News

Last week’s FAA announcement that three firms had qualified to bid on the ADS-B portion of the agency’s planned Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) brings closer — or pushes further, depending on your cynicism level — the date by which the U.S. ATC and air navigation system is modernized. The firms’ identities should come […]

Pulling no punches, Cessna Aircraft Company Chairman, CEO and President Jack J. Pelton last week labeled the FAA’s proposed scheme of user fees and increased general aviation fuel taxes a “bailout” for U.S. airlines. Pelton’s remarks came in a Feb. 23 speech to the University of Northern Colorado, touching on the general aviation industry’s recent […]

Eclipse Aviation and Avidyne have decided to terminate their relationship, Eclipse spokesman Andrew Broom told AVweb on Sunday. The troubles between the two companies go back to December 2005 when Eclipse announced a three-month delay for its Model 500 very light jet due to problems with an avionics vendor, which last summer was identified as […]

COLUMN INDEX The Pilot’s Lounge #110: Bad News Coming? Refuse DeliveryWhen the future of GA looks bleak, go meet up with fellow pilots, fly planes you haven’t tried and get your groove back.

AVMAIL INDEX AVmail: Feb. 26, 2007Reader mail this week about fuel taxes, new charity rules, and still more concern about user fees.

EAA and the FAA have reached a deal that will allow Young Eagles flights to continue unhindered by the new rules affecting sightseeing flights. Some parts of the rule (like the one that bans charity flights in uncertified airplanes) naturally raised concerns at EAA but it all got ironed out in meetings in Washington, D.C., […]

Controllers at Dallas-Fort Worth International’s regional TRACON have been given a refresher on the meaning of the words “we need to get on the ground right away, please” after they denied an American Airlines 757 priority handling, despite the fact that the crew declared an emergency. According to ABC News, which broke the story last […]

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has named Brig. Juniti Saito to take over the countrys air force, and along with that comes the unenviable task of sorting out its increasingly troubled air traffic control system. The air force oversees ATC there and, since the collision between a Gol Airlines Boeing 737 and a […]

The FAA has issued an Airworthiness Directivethat takes effect March 12 and covers 1,354 Superior Air Parts cylinder assemblies used in new Superior engines and as replacement parts in Lycoming four- and six-cylinder mills and Continental sixes. The affected cylinders didnt get proper heat treating and can come apart, as nine have done so far. […]

The pilot of an Ohio Air National Guard two-place F-16 with Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson as a backseater broke several FAA regs in his high-speed tour of Columbus last summer. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the unidentified pilot buzzed the city at speeds as high as 500 knots and altitudes as low as 2,100 feet […]