News

The FAA released its latest Flight Plan (PDF) on Tuesday, in which the agency sets out its goals and priorities for the next four years, from 2009 to 2013. Reducing general aviation accidents is one of the agency’s top objectives. According to the report, the last three-year period was the safest ever recorded in the […]

There are plenty of people who live and breathe airplanes, but it may not be too long before 37 California families get to live with their airplanes. Bob Banman and Bill Lindsay, a couple of aviation buffs, have navigated the regulatory waters to create a 37-condo development on the airport at Santa Paula, Calif., a […]

Pilots know they must always keep learning to keep safe, and one way to keep sharp is to study the mistakes made by others. To promote that effort, the FAA has created an online safety library thatteaches “lessons learned” from some of the world’s most historically significant transport airplane accidents. The FAA said that even […]

The small Mexican village of Alamos, close to the Gulf of California and the Copper Canyon region, is a popular destination for GA pilots from the Southwest, who enjoy its quiet colonial charm and mountain scenery. But last week, the small local airstrip at Alamos became a lifeline, as villagers struggled to recover from a […]

Something we like about aviation is that someone is always thinking about new ways to use it or apply it, and a couple of ideas have been floated recently that stretch current technology, not to mention the imagination. Now the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) spends most of its time (and considerable budget) out […]

AOPA has told the Canadian government that American pilots will stop crossing the border in droves if it means spending thousands of dollars on a new 406-megaHertz ELT. Transport Canada is considering making the installation of the devices mandatory in all aircraft flying in Canadian airspace as of Feb. 1, 2009. AOPA says a survey […]

New York Times business travel columnist Joe Sharkey says he was unaware of a lawsuit launched against him by the relatives of victims of a Brazilian plane crash until he read about it in an American online publication. The suit was launched by Rosane Gutjhar, the widow of Rolf Gutjhar, who was among 154 people […]

Cirrus Design has gone to a three-day work week (from four) in an effort to balance production against reduced demand. Company CEO Alan Klapmeier also told the Duluth News Tribune last week that the 2009 target for introduction of its SRS light sport model will be pushed back because of a slowdown in the LSA […]

Unmanned aerial vehicles are becoming more vital all the time to military operations, and as their capabilities develop, demand for trained pilots is expanding. “[UAV] missions are no longer support operations, they are the operations,” USAF Col. Scott Murray told Defense News recently. The Air Force is working on a report, to be released in […]

The FAA wants to change the way air traffic controllers are trained, dividing the job into two specialties for working in either a tower or a radar center. Most controllers currently are trained in both functions. John Wallin, president of the controllers’ union local in Memphis, told The Associated Press that cross-training is important for […]