Recent Updates

I think I’m about to be voted off the island. Or maybe I’ll just slip out on my own at the next high tide. The reason is that I’m going to go a little rogue here. I’m really starting to detest airport noise, if not necessarily airplane noise. I reached this conclusion awhile ago, but […]

The FAA is working on implementing congressionally mandated reforms to medical requirements for private pilots but until those rules are in effect, the old system is the law. EAA’s Sean Elliot updated AVweb’s Mary Grady on the promise and pitfalls of the changing medical regime. Duration: File Size: download here

Stratos Aircraft’s new light jet flew for the first time this month as the Oregon company launched its flight test series for the prototype. The Stratos 714 flew for about ten minutes from Redmond, reaching 128 knots and an altitude of 3,700 feet AGL. As marketed, the four-seat, single-engine jet will cater to owner-operators for […]

A ten-year veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force died Monday when the CF-18 Hornet fighter he was flying crashed while on a low-level attack training mission in northern Saskatchewan. Capt. Thomas McQueen was flying with another Hornet on the training run at the Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake weapons range that straddles the Alberta/Saskatchewan […]

The federal Transportation Department, which oversees the FAA and air traffic control, will be headed by Elaine Chao when the Trump administration takes office, CNN reported on Tuesday. Chao is a former labor secretary and also is married to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. The post is currently filled by Anthony Foxx, who has served […]

As the SolarImpulse team retires their successful earth-rounding solar-powered electric airplane, another team has stepped up to take the technology to the stratosphere, with a project to fly a solar-powered aircraft to 75,000 feet. The SolarStratos team, based in Switzerland, is led by Raphael Domjan, who in 2012 circumnavigated the Earth aboard PlanetSolar, a solar-powered […]

A charter aircraft carrying 72 passengers, including members of a Brazilian soccer team, and nine crew, crashed in Cerro Gordo, Columbia, late Monday. Early news reports indicate that 75 people were killed and six survived, but one of those rescued later died.The survivors included three soccer players, two crew members and a journalist, according to […]

The FAA says safety and not media suppression was behind temporary flight restrictions that were imposed on drone flights over the site of a massive pipeline protest in North Dakota. In a statement released Monday, the agency said it’s just trying to keep drones from hitting law enforcement helicopters patrolling the Standing Rock protest and […]

Drones are proliferating in our skies, and the holiday season is sure to bring thousands of new users outside to try their skills. To reach out to those beginners, the FAA has created a new video that explains the rules and regulations drone pilots are required to follow. The new video also explains how users […]

Amazon customers likely got all their packages delivered on time over the busy Thanksgiving weekend but a spokesman for the union representing pilots at ABX Air said last week it likely took a toll on those flying the 20 aircraft now leased to Amazon. Last Wednesday, a federal judge ordered 250 pilots striking against schedule-disrupting […]