Mark Phelps

The FARs include strict rules on how much a pilot may be reimbursed for flights flown under Part 91. But the Air Care Alliance (ACA), which represents volunteer pilot organizations such as Angel Flight and Pilot Air Lift Services (PALS), is meeting with the FAA to discuss making it easier to receive fuel reimbursement for […]

Though Tamarack Aerospace Group, based in Sand Point, Idaho, emphasized that it was quoting “… preliminary results that we’ve seen with our prototype airplane …” a blog on the company website still had something to crow about. On a 1,100-nm flight from Dallas (KDAL) to Jackson Hole, Wyoming (KJAC), the TAG CitationJet equipped with the […]

The University of North Dakota took a survey of what courses its students wanted and found heightened interest in business aviation. About half of the students surveyed said they had interest in pursuing careers in that area of aviation. So the university administration is now offering a concentration in that specific field, with 16 credit […]

Engineers at GE Global Research are laying claim to achieving the highest combination of temperatures ever recorded inside the compressor of a turbine engine. The developmental engine program is a cooperative research project between GE and the Air Force Research Laboratory. It’s called ADVENT (Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology) and makes heavy use of ceramic matrix […]

Apparently helicopters are the getaway vehicle of choice for high-profile inmates in Greek prisons. But this time the attempt failed. Last Sunday, convicted murderer and racketeer Panagiotis Vlastos was waiting in the courtyard of Trikala Prison, about 205 miles northeast of Athens, when the chartered helicopter swooped down. It is not yet clear if the […]

“I’d never scared off a mountain lion before using a helicopter,” said Monty Emery, a pilot with the California Highway Patrol based near the town of Colfax. But on Saturday, he got his chance. He and copilot David White received a dispatch call about a hiker on nearby Stevens Trail. David Nash had called 911 […]

Testing components of supersonic aircraft in flight can be problematic, and the refined wing design of Aerion’s developmental supersonic business jet (SSBJ) is a case in point. The 40-inch by 80-inch redesigned airfoil section is attached to the belly of a NASA F-15B to test for aerodynamic and temperature effects at speeds up to Mach […]

British farmer and aviation enthusiast David Cundall was living out his dream of digging up more than 100 crated World War II Supermarine Spitfires, but that dream has turned to a nightmare. Funding for the expedition has been cut off after none of the aircraft were found buried near the runway of Myanmar’s (formerly Burma) […]

Florida’s east coast is prime flying country, especially this time of year. But apparently several pilots were not checking for temporary flight restrictions (TFRs) recently. The FAA is investigating multiple breaches of a Presidential TFR over the Sunshine State while President Obama was vacationing over the holiday weekend. Aircraft that busted the restricted airspace include […]

It seems that fitting general aviation airports into categories is more difficult than the FAA first envisioned. The agency has announced Phase Two of its airport study, “General Aviation Airports: a National Asset,” and the focus of this follow-on effort will be on pinning down the categories of 497 airports that don’t quite fit the […]