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Michigan Backing Down On Background Checks… The Michigan legislature may just back gently — and inexpensively — out of its controversial law requiring criminal background checks for student pilots. Michigan passed the law late last year and AOPA has challenged it, with enthusiastic support from the FAA and Transportation Security Administration (TSA), in federal court. […]

Help For The Lost; Hope For DCA… If you could use a little help navigating through today’s security-conscious and ever-changing airspace, AOPA’s Air Safety Foundation (ASF) now offers some assistance. The ASF on Monday unveiled a free online training program called “Know Before You Go” that helps pilots deal with the realities of shifting TFRs, […]

Another Flight School Shuts Down… In San Antonio, Texas, Stinson Air Center abruptly shut down last week and left employees and students high and dry, the Express-News reported on Friday. The flight school, one of the largest in the area, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, according to the news report. Employees told the Express-News […]

300 Cessna Jobs Spared… Good news in the aviation industry, these days, is when the bad news isn’t as bad as everyone thought. The bad news Friday for 900 Cessna workers is that they were laid off. At the same time, it was good news for 300 workers who were told in March they’d also […]

Sino Swearingen Regroups After Crash… Others will be present, but two of the most talked-about new aircraft now under development will be skipping EAA AirVenture this year. Sino Swearingen and Diamond Aircraft have both decided to keep their hottest new prototypes, the SJ30-2 bizjet and the DA-42 Twinstar, respectively, in their test programs rather than […]

State Protection Fails… Airport supporters fighting to save the historic Meigs Field’s in Chicago lost what might be their last battle Saturday as the Illinois legislature passed a state budget bill that included $6.6 billion to modernize O’Hare Airport and no relief for Meigs. Friends of Meigs had been lobbying for weeks to include in […]

GA Numbers Are Up… Well, if the assembled nabobs of the aviation industry were bracing for yet another doom-and-gloom speech, they must have been positively blinded by AOPA President Phil Boyer’s rose-colored glasses Wednesday. Boyer told the Aero Club of Washington that general aviation is bucking the trends and showing healthy growth in most areas. […]

Beyond The Spin… Aside from what various alphabet groups, trade associations and unions would like to take credit for, H.R. 2115, Flight 100 — Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act offers important measures that could shape the way we fly for decades to come. Sec. 416, through privatization of the aircraft certification process, may do nothing […]

Last-Second Appeal Gives Reprieve… Chicago Mayor Richard Daley came within a few minutes of being able to finish the job at Meigs Field but some legal gymnastics and a last-ditch sprint to a Chicago courtroom spared the historic airport further indignity until at least June 4. The Friends of Meigs was able to convince Illinois […]

$100 Million Fund… Financial relief could be on the way for GA businesses hardest hit by security-related measures resulting from 9/11 and the war in Iraq. The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure passed H.R. 2115, which includes a subsection (scroll for Sec. 428) allocating $100 million for specific airports and related businesses that have […]