FAA and Regs

An American Airlines first officer was arrested for suspected alcohol impairment and handcuffed in front of the passengers he was supposed to help fly from Detroit to Philadelphia early Saturday. Police say the unidentified 50-year-old man from Philadelphia failed a field breath test and then a second one after a security agent noticed he was […]

The FAA is proposing that Cirrus’ new SF50 Vision be able to skip airborne testing of the whole-plane parachute as part of its certification. In a Notice of Proposed Special Conditions issued March 18, the agency says that since the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS) is a “supplemental” safety system on the SF50 and not […]

The government would cover the costs of air traffic control and related safety services at aviation events, under an amendment (PDF) to the FAA reauthorization bill that was approved by a Senate committee this week. If approved as part of the bill, the amendment would turn back the FAA’s practice in recent years to bill […]

A Senate committee moved ahead with its version of reauthorization for the FAA on Wednesday, approving legislation that includes third class pilot medicals and aircraft certification reform. The bill’s major components remained intact during the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation markup session. It would see the FAA through Sept. 30, 2017, ordering the […]

Congress once again has delayed taking substantive action on FAA funding issues, as the House voted yesterday to extend the current FAA budget through mid-July. The FAA’s budget is due to expire on March 31. Competing proposals in the House and Senate have failed to gain enough support for passage, as lawmakers argue over whether […]

An airport janitor was arrested Saturday after a pilot reported his gun had been stolen while he was in the washroom at Philadelphia Airport. The unidentified pilot had cleared security and made the restroom stop on the way to his flight when the theft occurred. The airport was searched and witnesses interviewed, and it was […]

The U.S Senate’s version of FAA reauthorization legislation, introduced this week, includes measures supported by general aviation such as medical reform and streamlining for aircraft certification. Spinning off air traffic control services from the FAA, however, is no longer part of the picture after the House shelved its version of the bill. U.S. Sen. John […]

The FAA can’t mandate lower safety criteria for cargo operators than for passenger airlines based solely on cost, representatives for UPS pilots argued in court this week. Lawyers for the Independent Pilots Association told the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., that the FAA’s rule governing flight crew duty and rest requirements, finalized in […]

The FAA today proposed a new rule (see link below for full text) that aims to fundamentally change the way small general aviation airplanes are certified, potentially reducing the time required to bring new technology to the market and also cutting costs. The new rule replaces the current prescriptive design requirements in Part 23 with […]

Standards organization ASTM has approved two new standards for general aviation aircraft on the thorny issues of icing behaviorand icing protection. ASTM says its new standards thread the needle between practicality and performance, establishing handling characteristics and icing protection for airplanes ranging in size from two-place singles to 19-seat business jets. Instead of one standard […]