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Weapons In The Cockpit… Besides the continuing economic impact, 9/11 changed the entire world of aviation in myriad ways. Airline pilots now carry weapons in the cockpit. Sky marshals surreptitiously fill passenger seats. Cockpit doors have been reinforced, and passengers are kept away from the front of the cabin. But that’s not enough for some. […]

While the big manufacturers hunker down and wait for better times, the small businesses scattered among the nation’s local airports can’t always surmount the obstacles of restricted flight areas, slow rentals and training, and stalled fuel sales. One example is the Tacoma Narrows Airport in Washington state. In 2001 the Narrows airport recorded 95,791 tower […]

Among the economies particularly hard hit, Wichita, Kan., central to the aviation industry, lost billions of dollars and about 14,000 jobs. The loss of each of those highly paid manufacturing jobs has a ripple effect, causing the loss of two other jobs as the flow of money slows down, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported on Monday. […]

Economic Aftershocks Of 9/11 Still Hurting GA… The terrorist attacks of two years ago have seriously damaged flying’s image, according to some of those on the front lines. In the last two years, 500 flight schools nationwide have closed their doors, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported on Tuesday. While economic factors are the major reason, […]

The long-predicted (and never achieved) dream of door-to-door personal flight remains realistic to some researchers. Mark Moore heads up NASA’s experimental personal aircraft research program and he claims the dawn of the era of “personal aircraft vehicles” is not far away, with an initial demonstrator coming in three to five years. With the help of […]

IFR, Shmeye-Eff-Arr… Working toward the “airplane in every garage” era, NASA and the FAA are making progress on the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) designed to make it easier for more people to fly from small airport to small airport directly without relying on the airline hub system. At least five North Carolina airports are […]

So, what about the often said (and written) opinion that TAAs lead to cockiness, complacency and poor judgment in the cockpit? The study recommends that TAA pilots be schooled on the limitations of the equipment … and themselves. It further recommends that training be broken down into the “physical airplane” (basic stick-and-rudder skills), the “mental […]

Technically Advanced Aircraft are defined by the study as “aircraft in which the pilot interfaces with one or more computers in order to aviate, navigate, or communicate.” That includes a moving-map GPS or a multifunction display (MFD) with terrain, weather and traffic depictions tied to an autopilot. Primary flight displays, which add flight instrument depictions […]

Or Maybe It’s The Training… A recent “General Aviation Technically Advanced Aircraft FAA-Industry Study” says, “The traditional GA training system has inadequate methods, [and] does not specifically include training to exploit the additional safety opportunities of new technologies” found in so-called Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA). According to the study team, made up of FAA, industry, […]

The 2003 event retraces the historic 4,000-mile route of the uncompleted 1932 tour with stops in more than two dozen cities. The National Air Tour will start at the Yankee Air Museum at Willow Run Airport, near Detroit, Sept. 8. See our video interview with Greg Herrick, founder and president of The Aviation Foundation of […]