FAA and Regs

Judgment is the cornerstone of the air traffic control profession. This basic trait, common among thousands of successful air traffic controllers worldwide, allows controllers to face a variety of situations-including unusual pilot requests-and act appropriately. As with the folks in the cockpits, a controller relies on situational awareness. She takes a multitude of things into […]

The FAA wants to reduce the allowable height of buildings near hundreds of airports – a proposal that is drawing fire from real estate developers and members of Congress who say it will reduce property values. The proposal, supported by airports and airlines, is driven by encroaching development that limits safe flight paths for planes […]

The FAA has published its interpretation of the special rule for model aircraft (PDF) established by Congress and set a public comment period on what the FAA considers to be a model aircraft and thus exempt from future rulemaking action by the FAA. It also confirmed that it has the authority to take enforcement action […]

Letter of the Week:USA Today‘s Strategy Only a personal injury lawyer would write a Lettre de Cachet like the black adventure story published in USA Today. My sympathies for their reduced ad revenues and declining circulation. But holding public executions and sensational smear campaigns has never worked for any publication. Even the networks hesitate to […]

FlyersRights.org, an airline passenger advocacy organization, has released a statement expressing criticism of the FAAs Extended range Twin Operation (ETOPS) approval for the Boeing 787 and the 787-9 for up to 330 minutes flying time from a primary or alternate airport. It allows the aircraft to be used over routes traditionally reserved for three- and […]

While reading over USA Todays exhaustive-and exhausting-indictment of general aviation, I was struck by the inescapable feeling that Id been given the Disney tour of every plaintiffs file room for the past 40 years, without benefit of hearing what cross examination revealed in the court cases this reporting obviously leaned so heavily upon. So much […]

The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday voted to provide $15.7 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration in fiscal year 2015, representing a slight increase from the current $15.6 billion funding level. AOPA is reporting that the bill prohibits the imposition of aviation user fees and also fees for digital navigational charts. The bill also directs […]

Virgin Galactic, the privately funded space company owned by Sir Richard Bransons Virgin Group and Abu Dhabis aabar Investments PJS, and Spaceport America announcedthat they have signed a joint agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration that helps clear the path for commercial flights of SpaceShipTwo. The agreement sets out the parameters for how routine space […]

I dont know whether to be shocked, surprised or skeptical of this weeks reports that Customs and Border Protection is re-examining its policies toward stop-and-search of private aircraft. For now, I think Ill go with skeptical. The reasons are several, chief among them being that CBP is a giant, complex and largely opaque bureaucracy of […]

The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. – Bertrand Russell That which is legal is not always safe, and that which is safe is not always legal. – John Deakin These two quotes are most appropriate when talking about traffic pattern entries. What IS […]