Flight Safety

While we were preparing to shut down at a tie down spot at Henderson Airport, Las Vegas, ground control was directing a taxiing Piper. Ground: “Cherokee Nxxxx, say your destination.” Cherokee:“Uhh, we’re not sure where we’re going. We’re just following the van in front of us (the “follow-me” van). Ground (chuckling):“I mean when you depart […]

Last week, the FAA rolled out the final rule for the long-awaited Third-Class medical exemption. We heard plenty of comments pro and con and in today’s issue, we’re publishing a detailed survey to find out what pilots really think. The survey will take about five minutes to complete and in addition to multiple choice questions, […]

Flying a seaplane off of the water is well up there on the list of the most purely fun things to do in aviation. When you take one of the most enjoyable of human endeavors—flying—and combine it with zipping across the water, you get a rush that’s tough to beat when engaged in doing anything […]

The FAA’s drone registry appears to have helped authorities in Seattle identify the owner of an aircraft that clipped the iconic Space Needle on New Year’s Eve. The drone had its camera rolling as it approached the 605-foot tower as workers prepared for a New Year’s light display on the very top of the structure. […]

A suite of satellites that launched on Saturday are the first of 66 that will expand real-time global coverage for tracking airplanes in flight. Ten IridiumNext satellites, which weigh about 1,900 pounds each, were successfully deployed into low-Earth orbit, about 485 miles above the surface. The satellites will be the first to launch for Aireon’s […]

“There were no twists or turns” in the new medical rule issued by the FAA this week, EAA Chairman Jack Pelton told AVweb this week, since the new rule is basically a cut-and-paste from the language that was mandated last year by Congress. “I’d like to tell everyone, just relax,” he added. It will take […]

EAA Chairman Jack Pelton and his staff, along with advocates from AOPA and other general aviation groups, were prominent players in getting the new FAA medical rule pushed through. AVweb’s Mary Grady finds out more about how the new rule will be implemented and how it will affect CFIs, LSA pilots and others in the […]

Each month IFR Refresher highlights an accident involving some aspect of IFR flying that an unfortunate pilot failed to respect. All too often, the pilots are professionals who have achieved considerable success in their career fields. The question often asked is; how persons with such a high personal performance standing can allow themselves to be […]

The full text of the FAA’s new final rule on pilot medicals was published Wednesday morning in the Federal Register, as the general aviation community continued to absorb and react to the news. The final rule, which takes effect on May 1, rewrites the FAA’s rules to comply with legislation that was enacted in July […]

The FAA is working toward allowing more freedom for drone operators, and at the same time is working with NASA on a plan to develop technology that will manage drone traffic, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said last week. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Huerta said “the next step” in the agency’s […]