FAA and Regs

FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety Ali Bahrami has indicated that the grounded 737 MAX will likely return to service in the U.S. by December, according to Bloomberg. Bahrami, speaking in an interview on Wednesday, reportedly emphasized that no timeline has yet been committed to. His remarks echo similar comments made by Boeing CEO Dennis […]

The rise of the regional jet has displaced twin turboprops in the short-haul airline market and that, in turn, has relegated a certain term to the dustbin of dead words: puddle jumper. Remember it? Nervous passengers applied it to the unfairly maligned Beech 99 or Embraer Bandeirante poised on the ramp to whisk—OK, plod—them from […]

The FAA will order airlines worldwide to inspect the leading edge slat tracks of more than 300 Boeing 737s, including the 179 grounded MAX models and 133 late model NG models, because some of the tracks are prone to cracking. The aircraft will have to be inspected and repaired within 10 days. Boeing discovered the […]

Aviation Consumer Editor in Chief and Editorial Director of Belvoir Media Group’s Aviation Division Larry Anglisano, five-time Space Shuttle commander Jim Wetherbee and FAASTeam Manager Ben Struck will speak at the 4th Annual Westchester Aviation Association’s (WAA) General Aviation safety conference on the evening of June 4, 2019, in Tarrytown, New York. Learn about the […]

As Boeing tweaked final development of the 737 MAX, it made the MCAS autotrim system more aggressive and ultimately riskier, according to a new report in The New York Times. Boeing failed to inform even its own test pilots and the FAA about the revisions. MCAS—Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System—was added to the 737 MAX to […]

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) is reportingthe return to service of the Boeing 737 MAX is being pushed back because something in the investigation has prompted a review of training in the previous model. There are more than 5,000 Boeing 737NG models in use all over the world and the safety record of the […]

The FAA issued an airworthiness directive (AD) on Friday grounding Cessna CitationJet 525, 525A and 525B models with Tamarack active load alleviation system (ATLAS) winglets installed until a modification can be developed and approved. The FAA says the AD (PDF) is the result of mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by the European Aviation Safety […]

The temptation was to assume that balladeer Billy Joel was enforcing his star quality when news hit mainstream media that the Piano Man was fighting to keep his ability to land a helicopter at his New York home. It seemed he was yet another spoiled celebrity bothering his neighbors with frivolously obnoxious use of a […]

The FAA published a notice in the Federal Register on Friday stating that it is implementing several changes for recreational drone fliers that were mandated by Congress in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. The notice (PDF) sets out eight statutory conditions recreational drone users must meet, including requiring recreational drone users to obtain prior […]

Boeing announced on Thursday that it has completed development of updated software for the 737 MAX, as well as concluding the associated simulator testing and completing the company’s engineering test flight. The software update is designed to address faults with the aircraft’s Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) that are widely considered to have significantly contributed […]