News

Canada’s Transportation Safety Board is considering whether to investigate why the crew of an Air Canada flight ignored two orders from air traffic control to abort a landing at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport last week. Controllers spotted a ground radar return showing an object near the threshold of the runway the flight from Edmonton was […]

Current AOPA President and CEO Craig Fuller announced in February that he would resign as soon as a suitable replacement could be found and AOPA chairman Bill Trimble has now described the kind of individual the association is seeking. In an open letter to AOPA members, Trimble said the candidate “must be a passionate outgoing […]

Seventy-year-old Vietnam veteran and CFII Rafael Sierra has created a short summer camp program in Thermal, Calif., that provides select high school students with ground school, one hour of flight training, and a student pilot certificate — all free. Sierra’s Coachella Valley Youth Aviation Education Program selects students on the basis of their essay submissions […]

Famed aircraft authority Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft says there’s convincing evidence that Gustav Whitehead, not the Wright brothers, was the first to achieve powered controlled flight, but critics may be unmoved. In the foreword of the 100th edition of Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft, Jane’s editor Paul Jackson cites the work of Australian aviation […]

Integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the U.S. national airspace system is scheduled for 2015 and, according to the UAS industry itself, that will create more than 70,000 jobs and have a broader economic impact of more than $13.6 billion by 2019. The numbers are not from an independent study but from a study […]

Laser chemist and researcher Jayan Thomas of the University of Central Florida is working to create eyewear that could use gold to prevent pilots from being temporarily blinded or injured by laser light shot into the cockpit from the ground. Thomas is working in collaboration with other researchers at the Carnegie Mellon Institute in the […]

Eight high-school students will win a free trip to the Glasair build center in Arlington, Wash., this June, in a new educational competition announced this week by GAMA and Build-A-Plane. The students will participate in Glasair’s “Two Weeks to Taxi” program, building two Sportsman airplanes and learning about science, technology, engineering and math. “This competition […]

As federal agencies scramble to cope with looming federal budget cuts, GA advocacy groups are pressing to minimize the impact on flight operations. NBAA President Ed Bolen this week asked FAA officials to consider more factors than simply the total number of operations at an airport in deciding which towers will close. For example, Tracon […]

The FAA has approved flight testing of what Boeing hopes will be a permanent fix for the lithium ion batteries on its 787 airliners. Two test aircraft have been cleared for flight to test a three-part solution to the issue that has grounded the fleet since the middle of January. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said […]

The FCC says it wants to get on with the process of phasing out 121.5 MHz emergency locator transmitters and anyone with comments or concerns has until April 1 to make them known. On Jan. 7 the commission issued its third Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (PDF) on the topic, calling for an end to the […]