News

United Air Lines says it has suspended a 51-year-old pilot after he was arrested in London for allegedly reporting for work drunk Monday. A spokesman for the London Metropolitan Police told Reuters the pilot was released on bail pending completion of alcohol tests. The pilot was arrested at Heathrow Airport but it’s not clear whether […]

Thirty-five senators have signed on to a letter (PDF) calling for the passage of a long-term FAA funding bill before the end of the year, AOPA said on Tuesday. The letter was circulated by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who is a pilot, and received bipartisan support from both Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority […]

The NTSB in June released an animation of the short flight of US Airways Flight 1549, which ditched in the Hudson in January, but now a private company has posted online its own animated rendering of the data that is like watching a movie of the event. K3 Resources, a Denver-based company that specializes in […]

The reason the FAA now prohibits hangar homes next to publicly funded airports is based on noise considerations, but no data exists to back that position, according to ThroughTheFence.org (TTE) which seeks to “stop the FAA insanity.” Airports all over the U.S. have so-called “through-the-fence” agreements with adjacent landowners that allows them to taxi their […]

The FAA’s special review of the Zodiac CH601XL and CH650 has implicated “several areas of concern” within the aircrafts’ design that may couple with operational aspects to cause in-flight structural failures. EAA is now urging operators to not fly the aircraft until operators comply with a forthcoming Safety Directive/Safety Alert from the Zodiac’s manufacturer. The […]

FAA administrator Randy Babbitt spoke last week at a meeting of the International Aviation Club, calling for improved standards in the cockpit, making examples of pilots who demonstrated poor professionalism, and punctuating it with the statement, “Fly right or don’t fly at all.” Babbitt cited Flight 188’s overshoot of MSP and the crash of Flight […]

Jeff Skiles was serving as first officer to Sully Sullenberger when US Airways Flight 1549 successfully ditched in the Hudson and last week he sat beside Scott Maurer, father of a victim of Continental Connection (Colgan) Flight 3407, to push for changes in minimum federal standards for pilots. While 1549 ended relatively well, all aboard […]

The slowdown in corporate flights has forced NetJets Inc., which early this year initiated voluntary unpaid leaves of absence and early retirements, to lay off up to 495 pilots early next year. NetJets currently owns more aircraft than demand warrants as business clients seek to cut expenses. The pilots could see pink slips as early […]

Year over year, general aviation airplane shipments fell by nearly half, with pistons leading the way, over the first three quarters. Year-over-year totals show 2,982 total units (all general aviation shipments) in 2008 to 1587 units in 2009, with industry billings down 23.5 percent. GAMA released the figures along with a statement from its president […]

Aerion, which aims to deliver the first supersonic business jet, has been delayed in that goal by the state of the economy, but presently claims 50 letters of intent that represent an order backlog of $4 billion — nearly 25% of which comes from customers in the Middle East, Pakistan and India. The U.S. restricts […]