Flight Safety

The FAA has allowed an exemption to light sport rules for the Textron/Pipistrel Velis Electro. The agency has permitted an exemption to 14 CFR Part 21.190, the special airworthiness certificate for light sport category aircraft, and that will pave the way to use it for flight training. The aircraft, which is type certified in Europe, […]

The FAA last month extended the comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC). The extension adds a memo concerning a conversation between an FAA representative and members of the Light Sport committee of ASTM International about a technical error in the NPRM. That exchange didn’t make […]

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) retracted its initial determination that Tamarack Aerospace’s Atlas active winglets were the cause of a fatal Cessna Citation 525 crash in 2018. In a revised report released Feb. 23, the agency attributed the crash to “the pilot’s inability to regain airplane control after a left roll that began for […]

On Thursday, the U.S. House voted on a third extension of the FAA Reauthorization bill formally called the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2024. The extension, which initially expired March 8, will now give lawmakers until May 10 to decide on a long-term bill for the FAA. Approved by the House in a bipartisan […]

Boeing could face a criminal investigation because of the door plug failure on a 737 MAX in early January. According to CNN, the Justice Department is probing whether the myriad deficiencies discovered in the initial investigations after the mishap violate a deferred prosecution agreement Boeing signed three years ago after the crashes of two MAXes. […]

Oil pressure warning indicators preceded the Feb. 9 crash of a Bombardier Challenger 604, which killed both pilots in a dual engine failure according to a preliminary report from the NTSB. Information retrieved from the flight data recorder revealed the crew received three Master Warnings within a span of seven seconds. The first warning, indicating a left engine […]

Boeing now has 90 days to present a comprehensive action plan to resolve what the Federal Aviation Administration cites as “systemic quality-control issues.” Today (Feb. 28), FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker cut in half yesterday’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) six-month mandate for developing an action plan to achieve “substantive upgrades” in Boeing’s quality and safety […]

While Boeing brass brag about the safety culture in the company, frontline employees who implement the safety processes aren’t getting the same message according to a report commissioned by the FAA. The report, done by a panel of experts in response to the fallout of the crash of two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft in 2018 […]

EAA is imploring the FAA to reconsider an AD it says would be impossible to achieve and unnecessarily broad in scope. The agency is proposing action that would require replacing the rudders on almost 31,000 legacy high-wing Pipers. “EAA believes this AD is flawed in regulatory process, scope, and requirements,” the organization said in its […]

On Thursday, United Airlines celebrated the opening of its new 150,000-square-foot facility at its Flight Training Center in Denver—expanding on what the airline calls the largest training center of its kind.     The new building allows for significant expansion, accommodating an additional 12 advanced full-motion flight simulators, six of which have already been installed. Additionally, it will allow […]