FAA and Regs

The FAA will issue a Direct Final Rule extending the registration interval for general aviation aircraft and the new seven-year duration applies to all GA aircraft. Until 2010, aircraft registrations lasted for the life of the aircraft but that resulted in a lot of inaccurate and ghost registrations on the books. In 2010, the agency […]

The FAA has adopted a final rule requiring commercial balloon pilots to have a current second class medical to fly passengers. The rule was adopted Wednesday but has been in the works for four years after Congress passed a bill mandating it. “Passengers can now rest assured that commercial balloon pilots must meet the same […]

A total of 24 aviation industry groups and prominent manufacturers have sent an open letter to all federal departments that regulate radio communications imploring them to delay the full rollout of 5G cellular services while they expedite codifying a comprehensive set of mitigations against potential avionics interference. The letter, signed by virtually all aviation groups, […]

The FAA has published airworthiness criteria for the Joby eVTOL aircraft, making it likely to be the first to be certified. The agency put the proposed “Special Class Airworthiness Criteria” rule in the Federal Register and opened it up for a 30-day comment period. The document runs about 12 pages and covers dozens of standards […]

The FAA has published a reminder to all pilots to lift their heads from the electronics when circumstances demand. The agency issued an advisory circular on Friday laying out all the regs that mention see and avoid as fundamental to the pilot’s role in preventing midair collisions. “The most advanced piece of flight equipment in […]

The FAA is threatening more 5G-related flight disruptions if federal communications officials don’t throttle the signals of smaller cellphone carriers around airports. In a letter obtained by Reuters sent last Friday, FAA Acting Administrator Billy Nolen told the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that 5G remains an interference threat for some radar altimeters and unless […]

The FAA is implementing a key component of its Alaska Aviation Safety Initiative with the addition of 54 GPS-guided Terminal Transition Routes (T-Routes), more than half of which will be available this winter. The routes allow direct routing at lower altitudes to allow aircraft to duck icing conditions. A total of 33 will be active […]

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association is supporting Boeing’s bid to extend an exemption on equipping two models of the 737 MAX with up-to-date pilot alerting technology. Boeing has until the end of the year to certify the MAX 10 and MAX 7 with the existing alerting system that doesn’t meet current FAA standards. Union President […]

The FAA has issued an emergency AD mandating the immediate inspection of the left-hand elevator auxiliary spar on De Havilland DHC-3 Otters a month after an Otter floatplane crashed in Washington State, killing all 10 people onboard. The AD was issued Oct. 4 after “multiple recent reports of cracks” in the spar, the FAA said. “The […]

The Allied Pilots Association is opposing Congressional moves to allow Boeing to duck an upgrade to the crew alerting system in two models of the 737 MAX that have yet to be certified. According to Reuters, the union, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots, says Boeing needs to bring a legacy system from its oldest […]