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The University of North Dakota John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences has released a two-page communication concluding that engines that had been operated on Swift Fuels 94UL unleaded fuel experienced more than 128 episodes of recessed valve seats or other valve problems. The report details the flight operation’s experience switching from 100LL avgas to […]

Reuters is reporting that Stratolaunch Systems, the rocket launch company founded by the late Paul Allen, will be closed after unsuccessful efforts to sell it. Allen, who died at 65 last October, teamed up with Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan to create the launch system, which was to use a massive six-engine aircraft to carry […]

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) is among those with “big concerns” about user fees, and the aviation group was quick to react to Peters’ remarks from Tuesday’s Aero Club meeting in Washington, D.C. “We could not disagree more with the link that Secretary Peters attempts to make between the [Bush] Administration’s desire for user […]

The FAA needs to build a modern airspace infrastructure, and 2007 will be a critical year in building a new financing system to support it, Mary Peters, the new Department of Transportation Secretary, told the Aero Club in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. “I know that user fees and who pays are big concerns for many […]

The Tiger Aircraft bankruptcy filing shows that 70 percent of Tiger is owned by three Taiwanese investors. However, the lone American investor, Teleflex Inc. of Limerick, Pa., also shows up as the company’s biggest creditor. According to the filing, Tiger owes Teleflex, which makes parts for the aerospace, marine and automotive industries, $356,000. Other major […]

Tiger Aircraft LLC ended a long and tortured journey to bankruptcy on Tuesday with a formal filing in West Virginia court. And, based on the company’s filing, almost everything (including a valid type certificate) needed to build a sporty airplane based on a proven design could be obtained for what amounts to chump change in […]

Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) President Ron Taylor says the controversy over staffing levels at FAA towers is overshadowing an even bigger problem at the 233 contract towers the agency oversees. Taylor has asked Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Fla., to call for a congressional investigation of what he says is chronic understaffing at the contract […]

On Thursday, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) said statistics published in the FAA’s Administrators Fact Book shows that ATC staffing levels have dropped “to a new low” after a third straight year of decline. This year’s decline is defined by the loss of 21 people and represents a slight negative shift in staffing […]

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the FAA is not staffing air traffic control facilities in the state adequately. In Albany, for example, there should be 30 full-time controllers, but there are only 26, Schumer told The Associated Press. “It started as a labor dispute, but now it’s become a safety issue. The FAA cuts are […]

The Comair crash in Lexington, Ky., raised questions about the FAA’s dissemination of airport information and its staffing of air traffic control towers. The tower at Blue Grass Airport had only one controller, instead of the required two, on duty that morning. Construction work at the field had changed the regular taxiway and runway layout, […]