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In its news release, the NTSB says an FAA engine icing specialist notes that thunderstorms blow a lot of ice crystals into the upper-airway altitudes. Pratt and Whitney did a study on the phenomenon and discovered that if pilots don’t turn on the engine anti-icing gear when this is going on, ice can build up […]

Three dual engine flameouts on Beechjet 400 bizjets, including one that resulted in a dead-stick landing, have prompted the NTSB to urge immediate action to resolve the problems that are causing the failures. “Dual-engine flameout is an unacceptable risk that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible,” NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said in a […]

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association says the FAA’s math is a little fuzzy (or selective) and the reality is there are now almost 1,100 fewer controllers (or 7 percent) on duty today than there were three years ago. “And that’s a problem, because we certainly have not seen a 7-percent decrease in traffic volume,” […]

The FAA says it will actually have 200 more air traffic controllers on duty two years from now compared to today’s figures as it tackles the “retirement bubble” created 25 years ago when President Ronald Reagan fired two-thirds of the agency’s controllers. However, a report (3.5 Mb file) on the necessity of hiring 11,800 controllers […]

According to the Aviation Safety Network, it was at least the second time an airliner crew had initiated a takeoff roll on the shorter runway. According to ASN’s report of Sunday’s accident, an airliner lined up for takeoff on the shorter Runway 26 13 years ago but a controller caught the error and cancelled the […]

Crash investigators in Lexington, Kentucky Sunday gathered information from the wreckage and data recorders of a Comair CRJ-100 that crashed and burned during a pre-sunup takeoff shortly after 6 a.m. at Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport. Forty-nine of the 50 people onboard died in the wreckage, one — the co-pilot — was pulled free. The airport […]

R.J. Siegel, LoPresti’s vice president of operations, told AVweb on Tuesday that officials in Manitowoc “are really nice guys with good intentions,” but it was clear early on that Wisconsin was not a lead contender for the Fury manufacturing plant. He added that he negotiated with about 75 communities across the U.S. to find the […]

In a story in the Manitowoc Herald Times that ran shortly before the New Mexico announcement, Ken Stubbe, head of the town’s economic development commission, said “LoPresti didn’t seem willing or able to provide a detailed business plan to us, and that’s what we should have before we put together a proposal.” The paper characterized […]

When LoPresti Aviation announced plans to build its Fury in Belen, N.M., last week, it made a point of saying there were dozens of other communities interested in the business. Belen, along with the New Mexico government, offered a fat incentive program that included the state’s Job Training Incentive Program, the High Wage Job Tax […]

Meanwhile, across the pond, airline officials and pilots are fed up with security measures and delays. RyanAir CEO Michael O’Leary said last week that measures such as banning shampoo and lipstick in carry-on bags are “farcical, Keystone Cops-like and completely insane and ineffectual…. We are not in danger of dying at the hands of toiletries.” […]