Flight Safety

The Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) Wednesday joined the NTSB, AOPA, EAA, the National Air Transportation Association and others in requesting that the FAA reconsider proposed rulemaking regarding ECi cylinders used in Continental engines. ARSA wrote in electronic comments submitted to the FAA that the agency disregarded the most basic requirements for promulgating a regulation, […]

The pilot in the left seat of Asiana Flight 214 that crashed in San Francisco in July told the NTSB he didn’t feel comfortable flying a visual approach on that cloudless, calm day, nor did he feel well enough trained to operate the Boeing 777’s automatic flight systems. The NTSB held a public hearing Wednesday […]

Representatives in the house Wednesday introduced legislation that would expand the use of a drivers license as an acceptable qualifying medical standard for pilots flying light certificated GA aircraft. The General Aviation Pilot Protection Act would set the drivers license as the medical requirement for noncommercial VFR flights in aircraft with no more than six […]

At least two snowy owls were shot and killed by airport employees in New York last week, after owls reportedly struck five airplanes in the New York/New Jersey region. News of the killings brought swift protests from local birdwatchers. The New York agency that manages the airports now says they will instead work with the […]

Instrument pilots take far more checkrides than their more visuallyoriented counterparts. In addition to the initial rating check, you occasionally face an instrument competency ride when you are more than six months out of currency. Most times when you add a rating, like a multiengine ticket, youll be expected to show off your gauge gazing […]

“Education of the many would have far greater public health impact than regulation of the few,” the Civil Aviation Medical Association, which represents FAA aviation medical examiners, said in a recent letter to the FAA, regarding its proposed sleep-apnea policy. The letter (PDF), posted online Tuesday by EAA, objects to the FAA’s proposal that AMEs […]

After an Air Wisconsin pilot was fired from his job and boarded a commercial flight to go home, his former employers alerted the TSA that he might be armed and mentally unstable, launching a legal dispute that made it to the Supreme Court this week. William Hoeper was fired in 2004 after he failed several […]

While on a local flight close to my base airport (KLWB), a landing Gulfstream contacted the tower. The controller in the cab gave the Gulfstream clearance to land, along with a warning that buzzards were circling near the approach end of the runway. “O.K.,” replied the Gulfsteam. “We’ve got the BB gun loaded.” Kyle Jonesvia […]

Letter of the Week:100UL Should Be Cheaper than 100LL Regarding Shell’s announcement that it has created an unleaded 100-octane aviation fuel: Once in production, and without knowing the ingredients, this should actually be lower in cost than 100LL for several reasons, some of which are: Larry Wheelock I’d hoped a 100UL fuel would cost less […]

December marks the first month that a first batch of students will make their way through National Aviation Hall of Fame inductee and aerobatic pilot Sean Tuckers latest project, Every Kid Can Fly, for local at-risk children. The Salinas, Calif., program is associated with Hartnell College and the NASA laboratories based there. It aims to […]