Mark Phelps

In case you were planning a meandering sightseeing flight anywhere near the D.C. area on January 20, you would do well to just forget about it. The FAA has established President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration day as a “National Special Security Event” and issued a flight advisory, available at faa.gov. In part, the advisory warns pilots […]

Unless you have a 406-MHz emergency locator transmitter (ELT), even your U.S.-registered airplane will be closed to Canadian airspace in approximately two years. Even flights that begin and end in the United States-but with a segment involving transition of Canadian airspace-will not be permitted, based on a decision made recently by Transport Canada that will […]

Build A Plane is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that aims to promote aviation by allowing young people to help rebuild existing aircraft. The organization solicits donations of aircraft and then regifts them to schools across the country for students to build or refurbish real airplanes. Build A Plane operates in formal partnership with the […]

Brian Foley, president of Brian Foley Associates in Sparta, New Jersey, believes the current down cycle might be so severe, it could be over sooner than previous plunges. Part of his reasoning centers on how long it took before most recognized that the current hard times were upon us. In a true glass-half-full view, Foley […]

As expected, the FAA has followed Brazilian certification of the Embraer Phenom 100 by only a few days. The $3.6 million light jet received its U.S. working papers three days after the manufacturer’s home country blessed it. The airplane was certified on schedule, without restrictions to flight in icing or avionics operations and with performance […]

What used to be a temporary ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone) is now a permanent FRZ (Flight Restricted Zone) surrounded by an SFRA (Special Flight Rules Area). An FAA final rule has established the new airspace configuration around the nation’s capital. The FRZ is a 15-nautical-mile-radius ring emanating from Washington National Airport. Flights within the […]

The recent episode of a Cessna 337 ditching in the North Atlantic captured the attention of a lot of pilots. The fortunate survival of the crew — hopping from ice floe to ice floe for 18 hours until rescued by a fishing boat — ought to be a conversation starter, even though most of us […]

Following a pair of accidents involving homebuilt aircraft licensed in the ‘Experimental’ category, local officials are hoping to ban Experimental aircraft from using North Las Vegas Airport. On August 22, a homebuilt Velocity crashed into a residential area shortly after takeoff, killing the pilot and two people on the ground. The Clark County (Nevada) Board […]

When a vintage P-51C Mustang crashed in May 2004, supporters immediately launched emergency fundraising for the “Red Tail Project” in a max effort dedicated to getting the World War II fighter back into the sky. The Mustang had been painted in the colors of the Tuskegee Airmen, complete with their signature blood-red tail section, and […]

Just as aviation fuel prices have begun to descend below the stratosphere, new concerns are emerging about regulating lead content. With the Environmental Protection Agency citing new mandates this summer to the Clean Air Act designed to cut toxic metal content in the air, the AOPA is proactively presenting general aviation as a tiny contributor […]