FBOs

Two complaints about FBO pricing and practices that AOPA filed with the FAA last August have completed the “reply and response” phase and now will be studied by the FAA, AOPA said on Wednesday. The complaints address “egregious” fees and restricted airport access imposed by FBOs at Asheville Regional Airport, in North Carolina, and at […]

Call them ramp fees, facility charges or handling fees. When you pull up to manyFBOs there’s a good chance you’ll be billed a flat-rate charge just for taking spaceon the ramp. In general, the larger the aircraft, the more you’ll pay. Most facilitiesthat collect facility fees will waive them if you oblige by buying a […]

Historical allies AOPA and the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) are now pitted against each other in an unusual battle over airport access, fuel costs and fees. AOPA, along with “seven affected pilots,” has filed a Part 13 complaint with the FAA against three Signature FBOs in Key West, Florida; Asheville, North Carolina; and Waukegan, […]

As sure as winter turns to spring, the ATC privatization idea has resurfaced and just as surely as summer is coming, so too are the alphabets protesting it. We’ve already hashed out ad nauseam why turning over air traffic to a private entity is a bad idea, but this season’s regurgitation has a new twist: […]

I think I’m about to be voted off the island. Or maybe I’ll just slip out on my own at the next high tide. The reason is that I’m going to go a little rogue here. I’m really starting to detest airport noise, if not necessarily airplane noise. I reached this conclusion awhile ago, but […]

I think if you explained to someone outside of aviation that, by the time we’re all done, it will have taken 10 years to develop a new, unleaded, high-octane aviation gasoline, they’d believe you to be making it all up. And that doesn’t count 30 years of half-serious research on the topic hardly worthy of […]

When the vast majority of American pilots want to go flying they rent an airplane from their local FBO, flight school or flying club. That means they have to go through some sort of a checkout with the aircraft provider before they can take the aircraft on their own. Whether the checkout is in a […]

When it comes to the buying of gasoline, I may be the quintessential American in one sense and the atypical American in another. Regardless of what it costs, I’m going to buy it and do what I plan to do. I’m the last guy to care if one station has a price a nickel less […]

Avgas prices have dropped enough to garner attention, prompting aircraft owners to ask FBOs if they’ll keep going down like prices at their local car-gas stations. Hoping for $2 avgas is unrealistic, but FBOs around the country told AVweb their posted prices have ticked down in recent months. While they aren’t seeing noticeably higher traffic […]

Tyler Francis, owner of an FBO business in New Mexico, died Monday when the experimental airplanehe was flying crashed at Las Cruces International Airport, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported. Francis, 29, owned Francis Aviation, headquartered at the Dona Ana County Airport in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. He had recently expanded operations to Las Cruces, the […]