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2004 “Safest” Year Ever For GA Maybe there’s something to all this safety stuff after all. According to stats released by the NTSB, general aviation accidents and the accident rate were at their lowest level since 1938 in 2004 and there’s even better news than that. “It’s also the lowest number of fatal accidents [and] […]

Assuming he makes it, Randolph will be among a handful of people on the list kept by Earthrounders who’ve flown a homebuilt around the world. So far, Australian adventurer Jon Johanson is the only RV owner (on that list) to make the trip and he’s done it twice, including a loop over the North Pole, […]

Now, anyone in the surprisingly small club of those who’ve flown around the world will tell you that the flying is the easy part. It’s getting permission to fly in countries that rarely see small private aircraft (let alone homebuilts) that can be the most time-consuming and stressful part of the journey. So far he’s […]

Homebuilt Pilot Well On His Way Some say that in a homebuilt, every flight is a test flight, and a California pilot is putting his RV-8 through the ringer. While thousands of fellow EAA members and other aviation enthusiasts are getting ready for the annual trip to Sun ‘n Fun in Florida starting April 12 […]

It’s a little different on airliners where interference could come from any of dozens of phones, BlackBerries or laptops in the back. But the technological hurdles are being overcome and it won’t be long before wireless communication can be safely carried out on airliners. Well, at least the avionics will be safe. What about the […]

AOPA Fights To Legalize Use There’s a whole world of information available to pilots via their cellphones and AOPA says it’s time it became legal to place that call. Everything from weather to airport information is available by cell but the Federal Communications Commission still outlaws the use of the phones in light aircraft. The […]

Meanwhile, the effort from within the FAA to derail the Lockheed bid remains in the hands of the FAA’s Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition (ODRA). The FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO), which now runs the FSS system, submitted a bid in conjunction with Harris Corp. In what may be an unprecedented move, the ATO […]

Sheldon said that if the contract proceeds on schedule, the FAA will save tens of millions of dollars by avoiding paying pensions to the displaced workers. He said that of 963 workers who will be left without a pension, roughly two-thirds are within five years of qualifying. According to the press release, the NAATS suit […]

NAATS Files Age-Discrimination Suit They’ve tried just about everything else and now the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS) is taking a new tack to try and prevent the contracting out of flight service stations. NAATS claims the process constitutes age discrimination and filed suit today. The union is seeking a preliminary injunction to […]

The NTSB had raised concerns about the Caravans and icing back in December. The safety board asked the FAA to require that all pilots and operators of Cessna 208 Caravan series airplanes carefully check for ice and/or snow on the wings and tail before any flight when temperatures are conducive to frost or ground icing. […]