FAA and Regs

Should it become necessary, you really need to know and understand ways to deal with the FAA. These days, it’s more likely you will first deal with the gentle Dr. Jekyll, but it can escalate quickly to the enforcer, Mr. Hyde, if the soft approach fails. Your interaction with the Feds will play a prominent […]

The FAA is drawing up a set of airport flash cards aimed at preventing pilots from landing on the taxiways or the wrong runway. The Arrival Alert Notices will be published in the May 19 charting cycle and will be included along with the regular information for 11 busy small- to medium-sized facilities across the […]

The FAA has offered balloonists operating in and around Albuquerque a temporary exemption from current ADS-B equipage requirements while a longer-term arrangement is being devised. As we reported earlier, operators in the unofficial “balloon capital of the world” complained that the ADS-B rules were keeping them out of airspace they’d been using for passenger flights […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation and the FAA have issued orders blocking Russian aircraft and airlines from entering and using U.S. domestic airspace. The ban has been issued via a Notice to Air Missions (NOTAM) (PDF) and regulatory orders (PDF) which will suspend operations of “all aircraft owned, certified, operated, registered, chartered, leased, or controlled […]

There are a few familiar names being bandied about for President Joe Biden’s nomination to replace FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, who is leaving the post this week. But according to the travel website Skift the leading contender may be a dark horse. Apparently former NTSB Chair Debra Hersman, current U.S. Ambassador to the International Civil […]

Hot air balloon enthusiasts appear to be calling on the FAA to find a way for them to comply with ADS-B requirements beyond seeking waivers for special events. According to the Albuquerque Journal, industry leaders in the unofficial capital city of the sport say implementation of the ADS-B mandate threatens the annual Albuquerque International Balloon […]

Outgoing FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said Thursday that Boeing needs “a systemic fix to their production processes” at its 787 factory and until that happens FAA inspectors will sign off on each aircraft coming off the line. Dickson told reporters a series of quality control problems that stopped deliveries are up to Boeing to fix […]

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson is expected to resign Thursday after sending a memo to staff thanking them for their support. “Over the past several years, my family has been a source of tremendous encouragement, strength and support,” Dickson wrote in a memo that was quoted by the Seattle Times. “Nevertheless, after sometimes long and unavoidable […]

The FAA has announced the next incremental step in putting drones into the National Airspace system with a field test of Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM.) The test will start in the next few months and will gather data on the integration of small drones operating at low altitude. “UTM includes a set of […]

The FAA is telling the NTSB to mind its own business and butt out of investigating spaceflight crashes. Last month the NTSB issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adding space transportation to the list of methods of locomotion that it oversees. The commercial space industry pushed back, fearful that the new layer would curtail the […]