FAA and Regs

An Oklahoma helicopter company has been fined more than $50,000 for dodging FAA regulations and illegally chartering fixed-wing aircraft. Interstate Helicopters and its owner James Paul Johnson were caught in an FAA enforcement effort to curb illegal charters. The company pleaded guilty to passing off charters as dry lease deals. On paper, customers leased the […]

A skydiving instructor who fell to his death in a tandem jump in Lebanon, Maine last September committed suicide according to the Maine Medical Examiner’s Officeas reported by WBZ in Boston. As we reported in September, Brett Bickford became separated from the customer during the tandem jump. The medical examiner’s office has ruled Brett Bickford’s […]

Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson says the company will return to space before the end of the year and he’s looking forward to a trip there shortly afterward. The company essentially had to start over after losing its spacecraft SpaceShipTwo in a crash in 2014 that killed one of the two pilots onboard. There will […]

A Frontier Airlines A320 returned to Las Vegas immediately after takeoff on Friday after the right cowl flipped up on takeoff. The flapping aluminum met a predictable demise and passengers recorded the mishap with their phones. The short climb out and the quick return were reportedly routine but the plethora of smartphones at the ready […]

A Florida man says he’ll try hang gliding again after his first tandem flight left him hanging on for dear life over the Swiss countryside. Chris Gursky’s pilot on the flight forgot to attach his harness to the aircraft and as they soared from the takeoff point Gursky grasped the control bar and the pilot’s […]

EAA is warning its members, and other aircraft owners, to think twice before signing up for aircraft-renewal services that charge hefty fees. “These businesses essentially duplicate the same process that the FAA directly administers for a mere $5,” EAA said in a post on its website. The FAA’s online registration portal is easy to use […]

Japan Airlines has tightened its rules regarding alcohol consumption by employees in the wake of series of incidents that have caused flight delays and led to the arrest of one pilot. Pilots are now banned from any alcohol consumption within 24 hours of flying a company plane and the airline is also extending its mandatory […]

When I swore the air traffic controller employment oath, I shed my civilian identity and for the rest of my FAA career was known by my operating initials. Controllers never said “Goodbye” to end a call to another controller. Instead, like a secret cult, we gave our initials. In my case, IE. Unfortunately, PB was […]

Two adolescent boys, aged 14 and 15, were arrested Thursday in Utah after allegedly taking a light sport aircraft for a Thanksgiving joyride. The duo, who police say had earlier made off with a tractor, took the aircraft from a private airstrip in Jensen in the northeast corner of Utah. They reportedly got it airborne […]

MIT engineers have developed an aircraft propulsion system with no moving parts. A team led by Steven Barrett, an MIT professor of aerospace engineering, flew a five-pound model the width of a gymnasium using “ionic wind” to maintain flight after an initial push using bungee cords. The first flight occurred almost a year ago. After […]