News

The 100 to 150 employees recently laid off by Eclipse, almost all serving in positions necessary to begin production, were mostly temporary employees and only a handful of “direct” employees were affected, according to Eclipse spokesman Andrew Broom. The staff reduction amounts to roughly 10 percent of Eclipse’s near-1,500 person workforce that is currently churning […]

AOPA says it’s concerned about a not-so-subtle change in the wording of the text descriptions of temporary flight restrictions (TFRs). The FAA is now warning pilots they could be held criminally responsible for violating TFRs. AOPA says the agency has always had that ability but seeing it in black and white raises the specter that […]

People in Jacksonville, Fla., are free to cover a rudder, rig an aileron or dope a wing in the comfort of their own home thanks to the local council’s decision to quash an ordinance that banned anyone from working on aircraft in residential areas. The so-called “Everett Law” was unanimously struck from the books on […]

Our sister magazine, Aviation Consumer, is conducting a research project on diesel aircraft engines. If you’re flying one, we would like to know what your impressions of it are. Has the performance been what you expected? How about the economy? We would also like to know about service history. For a questionnaire, e-mail avconsumer@comcast.net. The […]

The NTSB has completed its first investigation into an accident involving an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and on Tuesday, the board issued 22 safety recommendations and expressed concern about operating these vehicles in the National Airspace System. NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said the high number of recommendations reflects “a wide range of safety issues involving […]

When the Sport-Jet prototype crashed during a test flight in 2006, it wasn’t due to any flaw with the aircraft or a mistake by the crew, says Excel-Jet in a suit filed against the FAA. It was because air traffic controllers cleared the jet to take off behind a large commercial aircraft (a deHavilland Dash […]

Among all the sports videos on the Internet — from CBS, ESPN, and more, about football, and car racing, and scandal — it was AVweb‘s behind-the-scenes coverage of the San Diego Red Bull Air Race that ranked number one in a worldwide online poll. The web site WeShow lets viewers around the world choose their […]

For pilots who have experienced waiting for things to happen on an FAA time scale, the thought of waiting behind bars for the FAA to act could be daunting. One pilot in Virginia faces that situation, as a judge says he’s not willing to let him out until the FAA revokes his pilot certificate. The […]

Sir Richard Branson said this week that he knows his friend, adventurer Steve Fossett, probably will not be found alive. “I think the chances are that he’s no longer with us,” Branson told Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today Show on Monday. “I think everybody involved has pretty well given up hope, sadly.” Fossett was last […]

The FAA’s recent action to suspend operations at AMI Jet Charter was “driven more by arrogance and a failure to understand how Part 135 is different from Part 121” than by any concerns about safety, according to James Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Association (NATA). Coyne, in a letter to NATA members dated […]