Recent Updates

The Lone Star Unmanned Aircraft Systems Center of Excellence and Innovation (LSUASC) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) announced that it has signed an agreement with Texas’ Nueces County to provide drone support in the event of natural disasters. During disaster situations, LSUASC says its unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drones) will be used for tasks such […]

WACO Aircraft Corporation has been acquired by Florida-based Dimor Group Inc. The acquisition also includes WACO’s FBO and Part 145 maintenance facility, Centennial Aircraft Services, which is located at Michigan’s W. K. Kellogg Regional Airport (KBTL). According to WACO, Centennial will continue to provide maintenance, restoration and spare parts supply for its aircraft. Dimor says […]

Boeing kept airlines and pilots in the dark about an automated background trim system on the 737 MAX that may be implicated in the first crash of the new model in Indonesia last month. The trim system, which is meant to improve pitch characteristics and stall protection, wasn’t even described in any of the documentation […]

A couple of runway overruns in the last few days have wrecked millions in hardware but did not hurt anyone seriously. On Friday morning, a Fly Jamaica Boeing 757 went off the end of Cheddi Jagan International Airport’s runway in Guyana and plowed into a sand pile at the lip of a 40-foot drop. The […]

A crew of six doing what appears to have been a post-maintenance check on an Astana Airlines Embraer E190 nearly ditched the aircraft in the ocean after it became uncontrollable shortly after takeoff. The crew reported multiple system failures as they endured a wild ride over the countryside northeast of Lisbon, Portugal, where the aircraft […]

The FAA has increased controller staffing at Las Vegas’s McCarran International Airport tower after the only controller on duty late Wednesday apparently became incapacitated at her position. Confused pilots on the ground stopped where they were for about eight minutes and talked among themselves about the issues in the tower before a second controller returned […]

My student and I were nearing the Class C airspace at Palm Beach International airport (KPBI). We asked for clearance. Palm Beach Approach: “Cessna Five Tango Papa, squawk 1454.” This was odd since local squawks always start with 02. But we set what we were given. Approach (about 30 seconds later): “Cessna Five Tango Pop, […]

ADS-B Apocalypse As an owner, it’s hard to justify spending $2-6K on something we DON’t NEED to fly. It’s no benefit since we already have an IFR system that functions without it and a VFR system with the lowest accident rate in history. This is a made up, government mandate where some office bureaucrat made […]

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Inspector General has announced that it will be conducting an audit of the FAA’s role in authorizing Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS/drone) flights within the National Airspace System. The audit will focus on the impact of the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) system, which provides near […]

Icon Aircraft founder Kirk Hawkins is “stepping back” as CEO of the company and while it appears he’s staying on his new role hasn’t been clearly defined. It’s also not clear who will replace him as CEO although it appears President and COO Thomas Wieners is in charge for now. The company released a statement […]