FAA and Regs

The FAA has given the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) the task of reviewing all policies and regulations related to designated pilot examiners (DPEs), according to a notice (PDF) issued by the agency last week. The action comes in response to Section 319 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which calls for a full […]

NASA and the FAA dropped a 33,000-pound Fokker F28 regional jet from more than 150 feet in the air as part of a crashworthiness test last week. Along for the ride were 24 crash dummies, designed to mimic a range of individuals from a 3-year-old child to a 273-pound adult. In addition to helping the […]

FAA Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell has announced that the FAA will soon be publishing a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) designed to streamline regulatory procedures for obtaining FAA approval to test supersonic aircraft. According to Elwell, the NPRM will ensure that companies with supersonic aircraft projects currently under development have access to necessary information and […]

Tamarack Aerospace Group says most of the Citation 525 series jets equipped with its ATLAS active winglets grounded by AD in May are now fitted with revised hardware. The company—and owners—are awaiting technical reviews from EASA and the FAA to clear the AD and return the airplanes to service. The ATLAS system was introduced in […]

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg told reporters on Sunday that the company made a “mistake” in not immediately telling regulators, pilots and airlines about the problems it was having with the angle of attack disagree warning on the Boeing 737 MAX. It only worked if the customer bought an AOA cockpit indicator and it took Boeing […]

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 […]