FAA and Regs

Flying a seaplane off of the water is well up there on the list of the most purely fun things to do in aviation. When you take one of the most enjoyable of human endeavors—flying—and combine it with zipping across the water, you get a rush that’s tough to beat when engaged in doing anything […]

The FAA’s drone registry appears to have helped authorities in Seattle identify the owner of an aircraft that clipped the iconic Space Needle on New Year’s Eve. The drone had its camera rolling as it approached the 605-foot tower as workers prepared for a New Year’s light display on the very top of the structure. […]

“There were no twists or turns” in the new medical rule issued by the FAA this week, EAA Chairman Jack Pelton told AVweb this week, since the new rule is basically a cut-and-paste from the language that was mandated last year by Congress. “I’d like to tell everyone, just relax,” he added. It will take […]

EAA Chairman Jack Pelton and his staff, along with advocates from AOPA and other general aviation groups, were prominent players in getting the new FAA medical rule pushed through. AVweb’s Mary Grady finds out more about how the new rule will be implemented and how it will affect CFIs, LSA pilots and others in the […]

The full text of the FAA’s new final rule on pilot medicals was published Wednesday morning in the Federal Register, as the general aviation community continued to absorb and react to the news. The final rule, which takes effect on May 1, rewrites the FAA’s rules to comply with legislation that was enacted in July […]

The FAA is working toward allowing more freedom for drone operators, and at the same time is working with NASA on a plan to develop technology that will manage drone traffic, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said last week. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Huerta said “the next step” in the agency’s […]

The NTSB issued a rare urgent safety recommendation on Tuesday, warning pilots that Piper PA-31T-series aircraft may have unsafe wiring that could lead to arcing and cause fires. The urgent safety recommendation is based upon preliminary findings in the ongoing investigation of the July 29, 2016, inflight breakup of a Piper PA-31T medical transport flight […]

The FAA third-class medical, which GA advocates have long lobbied against as a nuisance to pilots that does little to advance safety, has been replaced with a new option called BasicMed, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced on Tuesday. “The BasicMed rule will keep our pilots safe but will simplify our regulations and keep general aviation […]

An Air Force C-17 has become the latest target of a green laser attack. The crew of the big cargo plane reported they were at 4,000 feet over the Jersey Shore on Saturday when the cockpit was illuminated. No one was hurt and the aircraft continued its flight. The laser strike occurred about 9:15 p.m. […]

Three people died when a Piper Arrow and a Luscombe collided near McKinney, Texas, Saturday. The aircraft were near Aero Country Airport when they came together. One crashed onto a road and another hit a storage yard and caught fire, burning some of the goods in the yard along with the airframe. The occupants haven’t […]