FAA and Regs

A lightning strike that injured an air traffic controller at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport has exposed a potential vulnerability at air traffic control towers during storms. It has prompted Federal Aviation Administration officials to inspect hundreds of towers nationwide, according to The Associated Press. The FAA said in a statement that the accident was […]

The Federal Aviation Administration took an important step on Feb. 5 to help improve safety in small aircraft by simplifying design approval requirements for angle of attack (AOA) indicators. AOA indicators give a precise indication of the angle between the wing and the relative wind, which provides critical information to the pilot regarding the lift […]

EAA says it’s wondering why the FAA billed it $450,000 for air traffic services at last year’s AirVenture when the NFL won’t have to pay the extra costs associated with the Super Bowl. On Sunday, the FAA told AVwebthat it only bills for services if it has to move equipment and personnel to the venue. […]

The FAA has confirmed to AVweb that the NFL will not have to pay for the extra costs of providing air traffic services in the New York area that result from Sunday’s Super Bowl game in New Jersey.In an email to AVweb late Sunday, the agency also indicated that last year’s game in New Orleans […]

A Minnesota brewery’s airborne solution to the preventable yet apparently prevalent problem of running out of beer while ice fishing has been shot down by the FAA. Lakemaid Brewery’s clever use of a six-rotor drone to whisk the frosty brews to their icebound customers runs afoul of the agency’s current ban on the commercial use […]

The National Transportation Safety Board has scheduled an investigative hearing on February 20, 2014 into the crash of a UPS Airbus A300-600 on approach to Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14, 2013. The two flight crew members were killed and the airplane was destroyed when it impacted the ground less than a […]

The military is already flying autonomous aircraft, and the private sector is eager to exploit this new technology. Michael Toscano, president of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, explains to AVweb’s Mary Grady why he thinks the FAA should reassess the risks and stop slowing down progress. Duration: File Size: download here

Letter of the Week:Overregulation to Blame Regarding the “Question of the Week”: GA was in decline long before the recession and will not recover to its glory days until the cost of aircraft ownership comes down. A new single-engine piston basic trainer currently costs the same as a Ferrari. This is due to a long-standing, […]

AOPA is reporting that a group of senators has introduced a bill that would require the FAA to follow rulemaking procedures before it could adopt its much-maligned new standard for expensive sleep apnea testing for pilots. The Senate bill, introduced by members of the bipartisan General Aviation Caucus, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., […]

On Jan. 16 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its annual Most Wanted list of needed improvements in transportation safety. The aviation-related items are a need to identify and communicate hazardous weather conditions to pilots, address the unique characteristics of helicopter operations, strengthen occupant protection, improve fire safety and eliminate pilot distractions. At a […]