Flight Safety

Six general aviation associations have issued a statement strongly opposing the inclusion of provisions to privatize air traffic control services in the government reorganization proposal unveiled by the White House on Thursday. “We are disappointed that the Administration continues to reintroduce a failed proposal,” the groups said. “Instead, it should put its weight behind FAA […]

Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed new simulations that they believe will help pilots to better recover when faced with an aerodynamic stall. “Part of the challenge is that pilots are often trained on simulations that take an aircraft right up to the point of aerodynamic stallbut not past it,” said Peter Grant, […]

An attempt to launch a high-speed cellular network that raised alarm over GPS interference was squelched by federal regulators back in 2012, but now the same company is proposing a new network, and GA advocacy groups have banded together to oppose it. Ligado Networks, formerly known as LightSquared, claims its technology has improved, and will […]

Healthy Pilot has been covering the BasicMed checklist in the past few installments, but we will be departing from that protocol in coming issues to cover health problems that impact the population in general and pilots in particular. Sleep disorders are up first, a condition that seems ubiquitous. For pilots, fatigue caused by sleep problems […]

To no one’s surprise, those in favor of splitting air traffic control from the FAA are busy planning their next move. After a last-minute grassroots lobbying effort blocked an amendment snuck into the FAA reauthorization bill passed last month that would have laid the legal groundwork for such a move, the CEO of one of […]

I am not a big proponent of memorizing airspeeds. It can be a risky practice if you fly many different types of aircraft. Most of the important airspeeds can be determined from the airspeed indicator (ASI), though there are a few you probably should commit to memory, or at least keep on a placard. Eight […]

The FAA says it’s tracking down the owners of up to 11,000 aircraft operating in the U.S. that may be noncompliant or have expired registrations. The focus of the operation appears to be commercial aircraft but the FAA didn’t make any distinctions in its comments on the topic. “When the FAA does not know the […]

Transport Canada says the suspected human excrement that has landed on cars, people and property in British Columbia over the last six weeks didn’t come from airplanes. About a dozen incidents in which a foul-smelling substance has fallen from the sky have been reported but Transport Canada says its investigation ruled out aircraft involvement. The […]

Aviation has never lacked for dumb ideas. It’s what drives innovation. “Hey, Orville, wanna jump off a sand dune strapped to these really cool wings I made in the bike shop?” What seemed stupid in 1903 is recognized as pioneering genius today. Likewise, countless other notions such as flying inside clouds without reference to the […]