FAA and Regs

The FAA has announced plans to temporarily adjust operating hours at approximately 100 air traffic control towers nationwide due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. When choosing how to modify hours, the agency says it looked at hourly aircraft counts and safety during non-towered times, air carrier, air taxi, and special operations, the ability of the […]

The FAA has issued guidance to airlines who want to take the seats out of idle aircraft and fill them with cargo. The drastic drop in passenger traffic has had a parallel effect on available cargo space. Some airlines were flying cargo-only flights with empty seats upstairs but the safety alert for operators (SAFO) issued […]

Pilots using chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine to prevent coronavirus infection (COVID-19) cannot fly while on the medication and for 48 hours after the last dose, according to guidance issued by Director of the Medical Specialties Division at the FAA’s Office of Aerospace Medicine Dr. Penny Giovanetti. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine are typically used for prevention and treatment […]

The FAA has published proposed new rules that would set noise limits for a new generation of supersonic civilian aircraft. The existing regs don’t account for supersonic aircraft. Regulations acknowledging the unique requirements of supersonic aircraft will have to be in place when any of several companies now developing supersonic business jets apply for type […]

Airbus has determined that acoustic resonance is behind the destruction of four engines on its new A220 airliners in the last couple of years. The company has come up with a software fix for the condition, which caused in-flight shutdowns of the Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines on three Swiss flights and one on […]

The FAA has put all its COVID-19-related exemptions, policy deviations and various other pronouncements approved so far on a single webpage to help pilots, operators and maintenance organizations navigate the myriad time and personal-contact dependent regs that govern aviation enterprise. The agency has essentially thrown out the book that it normally throws at violators of […]

The shortage of face masks has reached the FAA aircraft certification bureaucracy in the form of an extension of compliance time for an AD requiring inspection of the wing carry-through spars on some Cessna 210s. The process involves chemicals that require technicians to use masks so the calendar deadline for compliance has been moved from […]

Any pilot whose medical expires after March 30 can continue to fly until June 30 without renewing in light of the novel coronavirus crisis. The FAA announced on Friday it will not be enforcing medical expirations during that period so that medical personnel can focus on dealing with the pandemic. “The Notice states that from […]

Canada has extended medical privileges for as much as four months for pilots whose medicals expire before June 1 and AOPA is asking for similar consideration and more for U.S. pilots. AOPA says it is now working with the FAA to figure out what to do about pilots whose medicals expire at the end of […]

At least 11 air traffic control facilities have been temporarily closed over the last few days because of coronavirus cases. In addition to well-publicized disruptions at Las Vegas, Chicago Midway and Indianapolis there was an hourlong groundstop for flights headed to airports served by the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center, also known as […]