FAA and Regs

Bloomberg is reporting the certification test flight for the changes to Boeing’s 737 MAX flight architecture is expected to occur in early October, paving the way for a return to service sometime in the fourth quarter of this year. Quoting unnamed sources, the news service said Boeing engineers have worked through most of the issues […]

Stephen Dickson was sworn in by U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao as the FAA’s 18th administrator on Monday. As leader of the FAA, which is responsible for a system operating more than 50,000 flights a day, Dickson will oversee the agency’s 47,000 employees and $16.4 billion-dollar budget. He is taking over from Acting Administrator Dan […]

Amazon has formally applied to begin limited drone delivery of packages in the U.S. and comments are being accepted until Aug. 28. Amazon wants to use drones to deliver packages weighing less than five pounds directly to customers within 30 minutes of its distribution center. The aircraft would fly beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), […]

The FAA is investigating whether the pilot of a medevac helicopter fell asleep at the controls while taking a patient to the hospital. In a statement to a Boston television station, the agency confirmed it was looking into an incident June 24 involving the Boston MedFlight flight from Martha’s Vineyard to a Boston hospital. Boston […]

Boeing is fundamentally redesigning the software architecture of the 737 MAX flight control system to take data from both of the system’s computers and to compare the data from the sensors feeding them. The existing system uses data from only one flight control computer and the second serves as a backup. In the new setup, […]

In a vote along party lines, the Senate approved the nomination of former Delta VP of flight pperations Steve Dickson as the next FAA administrator on Wednesday. Dickson, who was a line pilot with Delta before going to the head office, was nominated by President Donald Trump in March. While at Delta, he served on […]

Some pilots and operators will have another series of preflight checks to conduct when the ADS-B mandate kicks in on Jan. 1. The FAA says in a new policy statement it will be up to pilots and operators to make sure the gear will actually work along their predicted flight path. As part of the […]

Tamarack Aerospace announced that the FAA has approved an alternative method of compliance (AMOC) that will return Cessna CitationJets equipped with the company’s active load alleviation system (ATLAS) winglets to service once “all existing product improvements” have been incorporated. The modifications, which are described in EASA Service Bulletin SB1480, include fixes to improve reliability of […]

Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted 14-12 along party lines in favor of former Delta Air Lines executive Stephen Dickson becoming the next administrator of the FAA on Wednesday. Dickson was nominated for the position last March. As previously reported by AVweb, the nomination process was slowed when allegations […]

Some Cessna 177 and 210 owners will need an immediate inspection of the spar that holds their wings on after Textron reported potential corrosion and subsequent cracking problems on some aircraft. The company issued a mandatory service letter requiring inspection and repair of the carry-thru spar on the aircraft. The spar is a main structural […]