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If the folks at Ohio University make the breakthrough they’re predicting, let’s hope they let Paul Moller in on the secret. After 30 years, Moller’s Skycar is likely the most long-lived of the fly/drive dream and about 75 of the faithful turned up at a recent shareholders’ meeting to hear the latest news. Moller told […]

The timeline works with the development and practical implementation of new-generation mini-jets, most of which will be ready for delivery not long after the test begins. Eclipse’s 500, especially, is aimed squarely at this kind of air-taxi type of service and much of its order book is predicated on it. But even with little jets […]

Highway In The Sky Inches Nearer… The long-awaited Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) gets its first practical trial sometime in 2005 at the Danville Regional Airport in Virginia. The system is designed to empower GA by giving small aircraft and small airports the technology (like WAAS) to provide safe, reliable point-to-point air travel, free from […]

Wright Replica Meets Kill Devil Hills, Hard The EAA-supported, Ken-Hyde-inspired 1903 Wright Flyer replica may have proven itself a bit too authentic Tuesday morning at the Wright Brothers National Memorial, when just after liftoff it pitched over and crashed. (Yes, this is the same one they’re going to fly during the Centennial of Flight celebration […]

In the eye of the security storm around Washington, FAA officials brace for a rash of airspace violations whenever good VFR weather happens on the weekend. And if it’s not enough that F-16s and Blackhawks are sent in pursuit of the numerous real targets that blunder into the Washington zones, sometimes they have to chase […]

GAO Official Warns Congress… Although federal authorities can’t seem to stop violations of the most secure airspace in the country around Washington, government mandarins continue to fuss about the terrorism potential allegedly posed by the U.S.’s “19,000 general aviation airports.” According to MSNBC, Cathleen Berrick of the General Accounting Office (GAO) recently told Congress that […]

“NATCA President John Carr has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory,” said long-time NATCA adversary Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.). “He traded job-protection guarantees for 94 percent of our controllers in exchange for a letter from the administration restating the same thing that’s been said for two years now.” Mica, the aviation subcommittee chairman, called […]

FAA spokesman Greg Martin told AVweb the one-year privatization ban was an easy compromise for the agency to make since it had no immediate plans to expand the contract tower program or any other aspect of ATC. Throughout the debate, Martin insisted that the privatization provision merely provided long-term flexibility needed to address looming staffing […]

Privatization Looms, All Sides Claim Victory… In the rest of the world, there are winners and losers, but in the magical spin machine that is Washington, D.C., somehow there are only winners … if you believe the talking heads. A blizzard of self-congratulatory words are flowing from combatants on all sides of the privatization controversy […]

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association applauded the new structure and staffing. “The FAA has put together an outstanding leadership team and we look forward to working with them as they move towards achieving their goals,” said GAMA President Ed Bolen. National Air Traffic Controllers Association President John Carr was even more enthused, calling the initiative […]