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U.S. Departmentof TransportationFederal AviationAdministration 800 Independence Avenue, S.W.Washington, DC 20591 September 29, 1999 Mr. Kenneth A. MedleyXXXXXXXXXXXXXXArlington, VA 22207 Dear Mr. Medley: This is in response to your letter requesting clarification on whether dual instruction/flight tests may be conducted in airplanes that do not have brakes on the right side. Title 14 Code of Federal […]

U.S. Departmentof TransportationFederal AviationAdministration 800 Independence Avenue, S.W.Washington, DC 20591 July 29, 1999 Mr. Robert Hackman Dear Mr. Hackman: Thank you for your letter dated April 26, 1999, to the Office of the Chief Counsel, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), regarding flight instruction in aircraft with dual controls under 14 CFR section 91.109(a). Specifically, you request […]

Now It’s the FAA’s FSDOs That Are Out of Control! Last summer, AVweb interviewed two of the FAA’s top lawyers at their offices in Washington. That meeting was occasioned, in part, by news stories AVweb had written that were highly critical of the FAA’s attorneys and their uneven interpretations of Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs). The […]

Robert L. Rasmussen was born May26, 1930, in Sacramento, Calif. and grew up in the small farming community ofRio Vista. He got hooked on aviation thanks to the barges full of warbirds thatparked in the river by his home during WWII. He had enough talent to win an artscholarship to a school in San Francisco, […]

Oneof the most difficult subjects an instructor ever has to teach is the awesomeresponsibility of being pilot in command (PIC) of an airplane carryingpassengers. Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 1.1 says, “‘Pilot in Command’means the pilot responsible for the operation and safety of an aircraft duringflight time.” And according to Part 91.3 (a), “The pilot in […]

Extended-RangeTwin-Engine Operations (ETOPS) is a rating granted to airlines by internationalaviation regulatory authorities that allows those airlines to operate applicabletwo-engine aircraft over routes where the time to reach a suitable diversionairport in the case of an engine failure is greater than 60 minutes. Up untilrecently, according to strict compliance conditions, airlines could obtain ETOPSapprovals of […]

As the story goes, a disgruntled passenger complains toan airline representative, “Your flights are always delayed so much! Why doyou bother publishing a schedule?” “But sir,” the quick-witted employee responds, “if we didn’tpublish a schedule, how would you know how late our flights were?” Most of us would agree that this joke used to be […]

OnOctober 31, 1999, 217 passengers and crew lost their lives when Egypt Air 990crashed into the sea off Nantucket Island, Mass., 40 minutes after having takenoff from New York’s JFK airport. With most of the wreckage now recovered fromthe ocean, investigators can find no evidence of mechanical failure that wouldwarrant reconstructing the airplane. Investigation into […]

Airline passengers often complain about the debilitating effects of the dry atmosphere in aircraft cabins. Some also express concern that reduced airflow and increased recirculation of cabin air can increase the likelihood that infectious diseases are transmitted. And the same is true for flight and cabin crews. In fact, maintaining a dry atmosphere in the […]

My least favorite time of year is when I have to do my Japan Civil Aviation Board (JCAB) physical. As fate would have it, my flight engineer license expires in early January of each year. The scheduler – whom I’m sure is somehow telepathically connected with my ex-wife (otherwise why would he be so determined […]