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Legislation that would give the FAA six months to issue new pilot certificates with photo ID passed the powerful Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday and was sent to the full Senate, AOPA said last week. “AOPA has long advocated for such a move but believes that the six-month time frame for implementation is unrealistic,” AOPA […]

FAA Expands Program To Expedite Special-Issuance Medical Renewals… A new program that took effect earlier this month allows Aviation Medical Examiners (AMEs) to expedite the renewal of special-issuance first-, second- and third-class medical certificates. The program, called AME Assisted Special Issuance (AASI), means that once an application requiring a special issuance (SI) for one of […]

The rule does state that U.S. citizens need only to prove their status to be exempted from the TSA check, by showing a passport or other identification, which the flight school must keep on record for five years. But the TSA’s use of the term “candidate,” which the TSA defines as “an alien or other […]

Neither EAA nor AOPA believe it is the intent of the rule that U.S. citizens need to go through the background check and TSA application process — but they also agree that the language of the rule is so confusing and unclear that they fear it could be interpreted that way. “When the players are […]

Interpretation, Final Rules, And The Root Of All Evil… As AVweb reported Thursday, the TSA on Sept. 20 issued what it calls an “Interim Final Rule” regarding the reporting and record-keeping requirements for flight training of foreign students. Reaction at first was a bit muted, but quickly grew to a crescendo of complaint by the […]

Engleman Conners did not respond to the Times story, but an NTSB spokesman said the chairman hopes that “board members will continue to focus on the important mission of the board rather than on bureaucratic distractions.” The board and Engleman Conners are scheduled to meet in late October to discuss the issues under dispute, according […]

Board Members Complain About Policies… Three members of the NTSB have signed a letter to Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners telling her they are not happy with policies she is enforcing that restrict their travel, prevent them from hiring staff and stifle them from talking with NTSB staff and the media. The board members — Carol […]

Australia’s AOPA, the Australian Sport Aviation Confederation and Recreational Aviation Australia have sided with Smith in the debate, saying that a report cited to support reversing the airspace reforms is “dangerously flawed,” exaggerates risk, maligns the skills of small-aircraft pilots and fails to establish that the reforms are unsafe. Meanwhile, the Australian and International Pilots […]

Meanwhile, the rocky implementation of a new Air Traffic Control system in Australia is getting even rockier. On Tuesday, the dispute over the rules went to Federal Court, and outside the courtroom a blindfolded air traffic controller and the brother of a man who died in a plane crash in July met with reporters. The […]

ATC System Management Critiqued… The FAA has made some progress in improving the computer systems and software that Air Traffic Control relies on, the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released this week. But some areas still need improvement. The GAO said it found that projects now underway were, in general, technically […]