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Safety Of Passengers At Issue… The latest version of a bill that strives to create a regulatory framework for space tourism passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday, after a contentious debate over its safety provisions. The bill would give the FAA jurisdiction over the flights, but the agency’s safety mandate would extend […]

The FAA has reviewed comments from the industry and amended its “Flight Plan 2005-2009” strategy document to include three key “waypoints” that AOPA was advocating, AOPA said last week — but AOPA was hoping for more. “The ‘Flight Plan’ now recognizes that the Notice to Airmen system has got to be streamlined,” said AOPA President […]

Development of the GPS-enhancing Wide Area Augmentation System took six years longer and cost $1.5 billion more than it should have, the GAO said, largely due to ineffective coordination among various offices of the FAA that were working on the program. Also, when the FAA accelerated its schedule for implementing the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement […]

Failures Cost Years And Billions… The FAA’s own poor management has made it difficult for the agency to meet cost, schedule and performance goals for new air traffic control systems, according to a report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) last week. The FAA fails to involve stakeholders, such as controllers and technical experts, […]

Maybe it’s a unique Southern California perspective, born of living in an area prone to earthquakes, wildfires, and mudslides, but neighbors near Torrance Airport — who are not otherwise affiliated with aviation — nonetheless seem unfazed by two recent airplane crashes that hit homes and yards. “Even the 89-year-old woman, [Margie Somers], whose house was […]

Meanwhile, in Poplar Grove, Ill., a small privately-owned airport is growing steadily, by working to create a neighborhood of people who love airplanes. Since 1996, more than 100 homes have been built and 400 residents, many of them pilots or airline workers, have moved to the airpark community, the Rockford Register Star reported on Sunday. […]

Cities See Downside To MOA Airspace Restrictions… When pilots worry about losing access to airspace, too often they worry alone. But in southern Indiana, where the Air Force is proposing to create two large Military Operations Areas that would impact traffic between Louisville, Ky., and Indianapolis, some city officials are concerned about the economic impact. […]

The scramjet engine design has no moving parts. The forward speed of the aircraft itself, enhanced by the shape of the nose, compresses a stream of air that is channeled into the engine, where it mixes with gaseous hydrogen fuel — there are no fan blades that compress the air, as in a normal jet […]

The 12-foot long, 5-foot-wide lifting-body scramjet vehicle, mated to a modified Pegasus booster rocket, was launched from NASA’s B-52B at about 47,000 feet, in restricted airspace northwest of Los Angeles. The booster carried it up to 110,000 feet, where the X-43A separated and ignited its scramjet engine for about 10 seconds. After burnout, the vehicle […]

Close To Mach 10… At 110,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday afternoon, NASA’s scramjet-powered X-43A unmanned research vehicle flew at close to Mach 9.8, nearly 7,000 miles per hour, breaking its own previous record of Mach 7, set in March, for air-breathing engines. The flight is a “key milestone,” said NASA Administrator Sean […]