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A Third Congressional Committee Weighs In The political impetus to reopen Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to general aviation gained some ground earlier this week with the approval of a bill by the House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Homeland Security, which calls for restoration of GA access within 90 days of the bill’s […]

Errant Pilots Cause Washington Scare Capitol Hill Police Chief Terrance Gainer said the plane was on a “straight-in shot” toward the center of Washington. FAA spokesman Greg Martin said the 150’s initial flight path made it look like the pilot (certificated more than 35 years ago) “drew a straight line” on a map between his […]

In a strange twist on that story, another passenger had to take over in a small airplane last week, but under very different circumstances. Pilot Mike Spicer, 55, and his friend Arnie Knoettgen were flying Spicer’s Cessna 150 to help police track down a fleeing suspect in Clay County, Kan. They spotted the suspect hiding […]

Glider Training Helps Luck and some long-dormant flying skills helped two passengers aboard a twin-engine (formerly Rockwell) “Jetprop Commander” (a 695A per the registration database) survive a crash landing after the pilot became incapacitated shortly after takeoff from North Las Vegas Airport on Thursday morning. Gerry Garapich had a few lessons in a glider 20 […]

The New Piper employees voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in October 2003, after New Piper cut wages by 6 percent. They’ve been waiting for a contract ever since. “The [union] doesn’t seem to appreciate what we’re really up against,” Piper President Chuck Suma said in a statement. “This isn’t […]

No Contract, But More Talks Set New Piper Aircraft has been working to get back up to full production after last year’s hurricanes, and now about 720 workers are saying it’s time for a new contract. Picketing started about two weeks ago and has continued sporadically since. Negotiations were held last week, and some workers […]

Meanwhile, the Reason Public Policy Institute, a libertarian think tank that has proven influential in some D.C. circles in recent years, released a report last week on the issue of funding the nation’s air traffic control system. The institute has long been a supporter of user fees, but now has backed down somewhat on the […]

FAA Told To Control Costs Following last week’s hearing on the state of the Aviation Trust Fund, members of the House Aviation Subcommittee didn’t seem very convinced that user fees would be the answer to the FAA’s funding woes. “Switching to a user-fee system raises more questions than answers,” according to ranking committee member Jerry […]

Wait a minute…. according to National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) Executive Vice President Ruth Marlin, there is no crisis in the Aviation Trust Fund. Marlin told the committee yesterday that “we should not underestimate the strength of the current FAA funding system and we should not tamper with it lightly. The Trust Fund is […]

Considering that GA represents just 2 percent of the contributions to the Trust Fund, they were pretty well represented at yesterday’s hearing. AOPA President Phil Boyer told the subcommittee that a user-fee system would denigrate safety. “A piecemeal system of fees and charges gives pilots a direct financial incentive to avoid using the safety features […]