FAA and Regs

The NTSB saysan Ameristar Charters MD-83 crew “did everything right” and likely saved their lives and those of 110 team members and supporters of the University of Michigan basketball team when the aircraft overran the runway at Ypsilanti Airport near Detroit last March. The aircraft’s right elevator mechanism had been damaged in a windstorm a […]

The FAA has reminded Southwest Airlines and its unionized mechanics who is really in charge when it comes to flight safety and not so subtly warned them not to let their current disputes get in the way. Southwest sued the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association a week ago implying its members grounded dozens of its planes […]

A banner towing pilot died and dozens of others had a close call on Friday when a banner plane flying along Fort Lauderdale’s beachfront hit a condo building and fell about 150 feet to a pool deck below. The Piper Pawnee operated by Aerial Banners Inc. hit the building between the 16th and 17th floor. […]

The FAA has issued a new rule prohibiting the transport of lithium ion cells or batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft. This revision of the Hazardous Materials Regulations also requires lithium ion cells and batteries to be shipped at not more than a 30 percent charge on cargo-only aircraft and limits the use of alternative […]

An Atlas Airlines Boeing 767 flying for Amazon Prime crashed just off the shore of Anahuac, Texas on Saturday and it’s presumed the three crew members died. Two bodies have been recovered. “It’s probably a crash that nobody would survive,” Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne told USA Today. The aircraft descended at about 6,000 feet […]

Canada has dropped its ban on pilots with pre-existing Type 1 diabetes becoming commercial pilots. In 2001, the agency made pre-existing insulin-dependent Type 1 diabetes a disqualifying condition for the commercial medical even though it had previously allowed pilots who developed diabetes after obtaining their commercial license to continue flying. Private pilot Austen McDonald, who […]

Virgin Galactic sent its first passenger to the edge of space Friday although it wasn’t a paying customer. The company’s astronaut trainer Beth Moses rode in the passenger cabin of the spacecraft Unity on the flight Friday morning from the company’s base at Mojave, California. “Beth Moses is on board as a crew member,” a […]

Given current affairs, St. Louis must be an island of calm in a troubled world, a place where things are so peaceful that the slightest deviation from whatever the norm is there, an emergency response is warranted. So, I think it was with a sense of amusement shared by many of our readers that we […]

EASA has published its opinion on proposed regulatory easements that will help EASA-rated private pilots gain their instrument rating faster, cheaper and more easily. By clearing the path for the “Basic Instrument Rating,” EASA is combining various regulatory frameworks, allowing private pilots to gain access to instrument flying directly upon passing their EASA private pilot […]

Bye Aerospace’s Sun Flyer 2 electric Part 23 airplane took flight for the first time with its intended production configuration on Feb. 8 and President George Bye said all went well. The two-seat aircraft, which Bye intends to be fully certified, flew with the Siemens-built SP70D motor with a maximum of 120 horsepower and maximum […]