FAA and Regs

For pilots who are still not sure about how the BasicMed program works, or if it’s right for them, the FAA’s latest Safety Briefing magazine aims to answer all of your questions. The issue, available for free download online (PDF), includes a Q&A, an infographic that walks you through the procedures and advice on how […]

The FAA has reorganized its certification division, scrapping the familiar Transport, Small Airplane, Engine and Propeller and Rotorcraft Directorates in favor of a new “functionally-aligned organizational structure.” Effective July 23 all certifications, whether on airliners or light aircraft, will flow, as is appropriate, through new organizations named Organizational Performance, International, Policy and Innovation, Compliance and […]

This week’s news feed produced the disturbing and surprising announcement that Missouri’s Rep. Sam Graves will vote in favor of ATC privatization, otherwise known as HR 2997, but in real terms the biggest public giveaway to the airlines since the depression. Graves, you probably know, is head of the House general aviation caucus and has […]

April 1, 2017, Edgewater, Fla. Cessna 170B/Grumman AA-5B Tiger At about 0842 Eastern time, the two airplanes were destroyed in an in-flight collision. The airline transport pilot flying the Cessna and the airline transport pilot flying the Grumman were both fatally injured. Visual conditions prevailed. The airplanes were part of a five-ship formation flight. Shortly […]

One of the most influential members of the so-called GA Caucus in Congress recently announced his support for privatization of air traffic control as a vote looms next week on the bill that would hand it over to a nonprofit corporation. Rep. Sam Graves voted against privatization last year but, according to The Hill, Graves […]

As the FAA sorts out the mess created when its drone registration rule was struck down by the courts, it’s already thinking about taking the registration requirement to the next level and requiring operators to transmit their registration information. The drone website wetalkuav.com reported that the first meeting of the FAA’s UAS Identification and Tracking […]

Crew members and passengers aboard a Delta Air Lines flight from Seattle headed for China Thursday evening weaponized wine bottles and anything else they could think of to subdue a young passenger who was hell bent on opening a galley exit door. According to an FBI affidavit, Joseph Hudek IV, 23, was finally subdued after […]

Most folks in the U.S. may be taking holiday time this week, but general aviation advocates are not slowing down in their effort to oppose efforts in Washington to privatize air traffic control. Thirty-four groups signed on to a letter on Monday that says the House bill submitted by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., — the […]

A French company has received EASA and Canadian certification for an aftermarket exhaust system that could substantially reduce noise complaints at training airports. Epagny-based Chabord has developed exhaust systems for Cessna 150, 152 and 172 aircraft it says cut the noise from them by at least half. It has “certified silent exhaust systems” for other […]

Prompted by reports of engine exhaust leaks from Lycoming TIO-540-AJ1A engines, found most commonly on the Cessna T206 Turbo Stationair, a new urgent Airworthiness Directive requires inspection of the exhaust system within in the next 10 hours time-in-service (TIS) “to prevent engine exhaust leaks, which could lead to uncontrolled engine fire, harmful exhaust gases entering […]