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Flight Services Union Worried… The head of the union representing flight service station workers says he’s afraid the privatization of the FSS system might become a political football. Wally Pike, president of the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS), told AVweb there are indications the government might ram the deal through before next November’s […]

The FAA is reportedly dubious of allowing El Al aircraft equipped with the system, called Flight Guard, to land at U.S. airports due to safety concerns about the flare-based technology. Israeli Transportation Minister Avigdor Lieberman is slated to discuss the issue with U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta today, according to Reuters. El Al’s first Flight […]

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee, introduced a bill last month that would require the FAA to expedite the airworthiness certification of missile-defense systems for commercial aircraft. “The proliferation of shoulder-fired missiles is so widespread, so deep and so urgent that we have to go on […]

Threat Seen As Immediate… With the announcement last week that the Israeli government is equipping its commercial aircraft with countermeasure systems to defend against shoulder-fired missiles, pressure is mounting here in the U.S. for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to quickly mandate similar protection for U.S. airliners. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) wrote to […]

Mead also raised concerns about the safety of the nation’s air traffic control system. Although runway incursions decreased by 4 percent in fiscal year 2003, operational errors — when controllers allow planes to come too close together in the air — increased 12 percent, to 1,186, with an average of three operational errors each day […]

Among the projects facing cuts or delays is the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), which became available on a limited basis last July. Mead says the FAA has revised its expectations for the program and now says WAAS will not be capable of providing Category I performance at most of the nation’s airports. The reduced […]

As FAA Limits New Technology…. The FAA’s efforts to modernize the National Airspace System, including the installation of new radar and approach systems, datalink technology, and digital radios, “face fundamental problems with respect to misjudging technological maturity, unexpected cost growth, or concerns about how to move forward in a cost-effective way,” Department of Transportation Inspector […]

Chances are you won’t have to join the military to encounter a UAV. They’ve been in limited use over U.S. airspace for years but the Department of Homeland Security wants to use them regularly to patrol the border between Arizona and Mexico. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the flights are expected to start later […]

Unmanned Combat Plane Tested… The military moved a step closer to taking pilots out of the action with the successful test of a new drone bomber. Under remote control, Boeing’s X-45 Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) dropped a dummy bomb to within inches of a target truck on the desert at Edwards Air Force Base […]

If the FAA wants a tally of the impact of the proposed rule, they might ask Harry and Loree Hirschmann, who opened a biplane sightseeing business in San Francisco last year. “It’s a nice little business and we intended to grow into it but we’re going to get stopped in our tracks if this goes […]