Mark Phelps

A pair of low pressure systems converged on the Northeast region Tuesday night, and the resulting blizzard conditions paralyzed surface and air travel. For the second time in less than three weeks, the New York area was blasted, though this storm saved its worst for New England. All flights to and from Boston Logan Airport […]

The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to release a study next week on 138 accidents involving GA aircraft equipped with air bags integrated into shoulder harnesses. Some 7,000 aircraft are so equipped out of the entire GA fleet of more than 200,000 aircraft. AmSafe, the sole manufacturer of aircraft air-bag shoulder harnesses, claims it […]

Atlantic magazine Columnist Jeffrey Goldberg has written detailed accounts for years of shortcomings he’s observed in the Transportation Security Administration’s oversight of airline security. After a recent flight in a general aviation aircraft, from New Jersey Teterboro Airport to Washington Dulles Airport, Goldberg turned his attention to security among the general aviation community — and […]

I have some very intelligent, well informed friends who honestly believe that America is highly vulnerable to the threat of attack with a general aviation aircraft. To them, because no one is scanning pilots and passengers as they board a private aircraft at a small airport, any one of those 200,000 aircraft might as well […]

Wendi Gavigan will receive the NBAA Outstanding Achievement & Leadership Award at the 2011 Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference next month. Gavigan is vice president and manager of flight operations for Citigroup Corporate Aviation. Her team provides travel services for Citigroup, including approximately 80 percent international operations. The award was first presented in 2008 and recognizes […]

The European Aviation Safety Association (EASA) has approved Garmin’s G1000 retrofit package for Hawker Beechcraft King Air 200 and B200 models. The retrofit package has already been approved by the U.S. FAA for C90, 200 and B200 King Air models, with approval for the 300 and 350 Series expected later this year. Garmin vice president […]

But that headline could be deceiving. Though it’s true that air traffic controllers’ reported errors increased by more than half last year, a new reporting policy could be a large part of the reason. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has encouraged a policy of “no-fault” self-reporting of errors by controllers, the better to gather more data […]

Two safety systems announced at last year’s EAA AirVenture for Cirrus models have been approved by the FAA. The systems work within the Garmin Perspective avionics suite and use the avionics technology to enhance safety. The Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP) system provides control pressure when it perceives excessive pitch, bank or airspeed. It is […]

If you’re looking for a staunch advocate of attitude flying, you’ll find none better or more evangelical than Wolfgang Langewiesche in his classic Stick and Rudder. His sermonizing on the importance of angle of attack (and his practical explanations of what the heck it actually IS) guided many a future Air Corps pilot through the […]

I know. Just what you didn’t need to hear. Another batch of New Year’s resolutions that are most likely to wind up forgotten before the spilled champagne dries from your carpet. Well, here they are anyway: five areas in which we could all benefit from a little more attention. 1. Read something old. There was […]