FAA and Regs

As we reported last month, President Joe Biden has nominated Phillip A. Washington as his new FAA administrator to replace Steve Dickson, who resigned in the spring. The Washington Post is reporting Washington’s nomination is rooted in his deep political ties to Biden as the administration grapples with an air transportation system fraught with difficulties, […]

SkyWest may have found a neat workaround to sustain scheduled service to small markets while filling the flight decks with its most experienced captains and least experienced FOs. The regional giant has created a small charter subsidiary called SkyWest Charter LLC (SWC) and applied for a Part 135 commuter air carrier authorization. It proposes to […]

The FAA has issued new guidance to airports on issuing NOTAMs it says is intended to help pilots navigate them easier and more accurately. The Advisory Circular was issued on May 25 but the agency publicized it over the weekend. The overall intent appears to be to clean up all the expired, inaccurate and confusing […]

The FAA is requiring SpaceX to take more than 75 actions to mitigate the potential environmental impact of its planned Starship/Super Heavy launch operations in Boca Chica, Texas, the agency announced on Monday. The requirements are the result of a recently completed environmental assessment conducted by the FAA as part of the decision-making process for […]

The FAA launched its “Be ATC” recruiting campaign this week with the goal of hiring its “next generation” of aircraft traffic controllers. The application window will be open from June 24 to 27 for U.S. citizens who meet the agency’s eligibility requirements, which include the ability to speak English clearly, being no older than 30 […]

The Biden administration is planning to nominate Phillip Washington as the next FAA administrator, according to a report from The Seattle Times. Washington is currently serving as CEO of Denver International Airport (DEN), a position he has held since July 12, 2021, and his first aviation-related role. Before taking over at DEN, he worked as […]

The FAA is keeping Boeing on a shorter leash than the company wanted to ensure it makes some internal changes on its certification processes. The company applied for its customary five-year Organization Designation Authorization allowing designated Boeing employees to sign off on some aspects of the certification of new aircraft. In the wake of the […]

The Air Line Pilots Association says raising the retirement age for pilots is no magic bullet for the current shortage and it will oppose any attempt to make the change. For the past week there have been unverified reports on social media of pending legislative action to boost the retirement age to 67 or 68 […]

The FAA has revoked the pilot certificates of Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington following their highly publicized attempt to “take off in one aircraft and land in another after sending their planes into a nosedive and jumping out of them” last month. The attempt ended with Aikins successfully making the swap while Farrington parachuted to […]

Pilot and YouTuber Trent Palmer announced on Thursday that the FAA has suspended his certificate for 60 days. According to Palmer, the issue dates back to Nov. 24, 2019, when he made an inspection pass over a private airstrip on a friend’s property in an area described as “sparsely populated” after having been invited to […]