FAA and Regs

AVweb‘s weekly news roundup found reports on a new exhibit at the Tillamook Air Museum, a research team looking for ASRS report from GA pilots, installation of a new in-flight connectivity system on a Bombardier Challenger 300, an updated white paper for business aircraft operators and an agreement between Hawaiian Airlines and MINT Software Systems. […]

Swift Fuels Suspends PAFI Activities I’m not at all surprised to see Swift bow out. They began life as a biotechnology company shopping microbial technology that might be used to produce aviation fuel. The economics were rarely discussed. During the clean energy boom eight years ago they (and other marginal concepts) were able to find […]

The Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) has asked for a review of FAA enforcement of rules regarding instructions for continued airworthiness (ICA) such as aircraft maintenance manuals. In a comment filed with the U.S. Small Business Administration National Ombudsman’s office, ARSA stated that it believes “the FAA strictly enforces the requirement that repair stations possess […]

Swift Fuels announced that it has suspended its work activities with the FAA’s Piston Alternative Fuels Initiative (PAFI) unleaded 100LL replacement fuels program on Wednesday. The company says that it is now focusing on testing a high-octane unleaded avgas replacement that is not part of PAFI and working privately with the FAA and OEMs to […]

The powerful radio control aircraft lobby is squaring off against the FAA, Department of Defense and some members of Congress over the future of their hobby, and the government departments may be outgunned politically. At issue is the so-called Rule 336 that essentially exempts those flying model planes for “hobby and recreation” from the long […]

The FAA this week issued an Emergency Order revoking the repair station certificate for Sensenich Propeller Service in North Windham, Connecticut. The FAA alleges that the repair station and its accountable manager, between March 2015 and at least February 2017, “knowingly and intentionally” performed maintenance on 47 McCauley propellers for 45 separate aircraft that was […]

The FAA has issued a statement warning operators of unmanned aircraft (UAS/drones) to stay away from wildfires. The agency emphasized that while proper use of drones for firefighting missions can provide a lot of useful information, unauthorized flights risk lives, especially since firefighting operations typically occur in the same airspace as the majority of hobby […]

Chief among the many comments and reactions to the suicide by Rich Russell in a Horizon Airlines Q400 on Friday was the wonder about how a ramp attendant could take off and do aerobatics in a regional airliner. Well, Russell may have provided the answer himself. He told air traffic controllers he played video games […]

President Donald Trump’s continued promotion of his personal pilot John Dunkin as the next FAA administrator is apparently the underlying cause of the lengthy delay in nominating a new administrator. And according to Politico and The Daily Beast it’s frustrating congressional members on both sides on the aisle because a mutually acceptable candidate is already […]

Propping? What Could Possibly Go Wrong? I certainly enjoyed Paul’s description of the propping episode he experienced. He writes well and I’d like to see more. I’m not sure he has a clear understanding of what and why the impulse coupler does what it does, however. It is surprising that he hasn’t had many such […]