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Lockheed Martin, which last year took over operation of Automated Flight Service Stations (AFSS), this week launched a new AFSS Pilot Information Web Portal for GA pilots. The Web site provides a feedback mechanism where pilots who use AFSS services can register complaints, comments or compliments. The site also includes contact information for each AFSS, […]

The GAO report says the FAA, which was reorganized in 2004 to include the Air Traffic Organization, is doing better at buying and implementing the technology that will be required to accommodate the three-fold increase in air traffic that is anticipated by 2025 (that FAA-estimated growth is questioned by some in the industry). While a […]

Now, we all know that satellite-based systems will largely replace curve-of-the-earth-hampered ground stations and we all know that it will require some extra equipment on board. But is VFR going to be somehow limited or discouraged in the process? The GAO seems to think so. The Government Accountability Office recently released its latest in the […]

The FAA didn’t have much to say on the resignation. Blakey issued a four-line news release that noted Mineta’s long career. “His work made terrific contributions to reducing congestion and to the safest period in aviation history,” Blakey said. “He has certainly left his mark on our skies.” Other groups chimed in on the safety […]

Aviation groups are unanimous in their disappointment that Mineta is leaving and AOPA President Phil Boyer said in a news release that he was an ally for GA. He also said the administration should choose a successor whose values mirror Mineta’s. “It is critical that the Bush Administration chooses a successor who has the same […]

FAA Administrator Marion Blakey is considered among the front runners to replace Norm Mineta as Secretary of Transportation and, if she gets the job, it could raise the stakes in the looming battle over the shape and form of the FAA’s next-generation structure and operation. Mineta, who will resign effective July 7 (download the letter […]

While pilot groups in other countries can do little to directly influence the debate on user fees in the U.S., AOPA can learn from those delegates who have plenty of experience with the fee-based systems used in their own countries. The U.S. remains the only major aviation-invested country with a mainly government-run aviation services sector […]

Representatives of pilot groups in dozens of countries have resolved at a meeting last week in Canada to press their respective governments to adopt uniform standards for “sense and avoid” capabilities in unmanned aerial vehicles. AOPA has been lobbying aggressively for those standards since the FAA threw up temporary flight restrictions on the U.S.-Mexico border […]

The company changes were precipitated by complaints from dissatisfied customers, Seader said. “Customer service is everything in the engine-overhaul business. But we were hearing that work was taking two to three times as long as they were promised, and phone calls would go unreturned. Quality was high, but efficiency was not.” Seader said he’s now […]

Despite recent reports that employees of Firewall Forward returned from lunch one day last week to find the doors locked, spokesmen for the company told AVweb yesterday that the engine-overhaul outfit is not shutting down. “We’re definitely in business and intend to stay in business for a long time,” Don Taranto, owner of Firewall Forward, […]