Mark Phelps

From the ‘What were they thinking?’ department: the FAA’s Electronic Special Traffic Management Program (eSTMP) had announced it was updating its computers, beginning tomorrow and running through Monday (July 23-26). That’s the four days immediately before EAA AirVenture, the largest gathering of aircraft in the world. The eSTMP system coordinates IFR slot reservations at venues […]

Flying received a humble message from flight instructor Scott Taylor, grandson of C.G. Taylor. A self-taught engineer from Nottingham, England, C.G. Taylor designed the original ‘Cub,’ (an E-2) and was William Piper’s early partner. But he and Piper parted ways early on, and Taylor later moved to Alliance, Ohio, and built his own side-by-side lightplane, […]

As many as 4,500 of Hawker Beechcraft Corp.’s (HBC) 6,000 employees could lose their jobs in the next two years, according to a report from the Wichita affiliate of NBC News. The union that represents employees at HBC quoted a letter from company management concerning ongoing meetings with union leaders. The company cited: “… serious […]

It’s easy to get overwhelmed. The sensory overload of EAA AirVenture can take over and cause first-time visitors to scurry around in all directions like a drug-sniffing dog let loose at Woodstock. Even veteran AirVenture-goers can lose focus in the face of so much to see and do. And let’s not get all anxious about […]

This weekend (July 24-26), more than 30 Douglas DC-3s/C-47s are expected for a reunion known as The Last Time. (True fans of the iconic transport have expressed doubts regarding the name of the event.) To be held at Whiteside County Airport, Rock Falls, Illinois, the gathering marks the 75th anniversary of the first flight of […]

An FAA letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the aviation agency has asked the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to withdraw a proposal that raised a ruckus with aircraft operators. The FCC had issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) that would have prohibited the “certification, manufacture, importation, sale, or continued use of […]

He’s captured the imagination of the public, though the owner of the Cessna Corvalis 400 Colton Harris-Moore stole is likely a lot less enthralled. The so-called Barefoot Bandit ditched the Cessna single after flying to one of the Bahamas out islands from the Indiana airport where he stole it. All this despite the fact that […]

Piston and turbine aircraft in the 6,000- to 12,500-pound category (FAA Class III) are now eligible to retrofit their steam gauge panels with Aspen Avionics’ Evolution EFD1000C3 Pro Primary Flight Display (PFD). Aspen president John Uczekaj said many operators of Class III aircraft will also install companion Evolution Multi-Function Displays (MFDs) to complement the PFDs. […]

Under a grant from the FAA, Georgia Tech will research how NextGen’s sophisticated cockpits and air traffic controllers’ stations will affect human performance. The School of Aerospace Engineering will lead the study on pilot response to alerts from Traffic-alert and Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS), while Engineering Psychology Professor Frank Durso will lead a team examining […]

The cliché question is: How do you fly a solar-powered airplane at night? The Swiss research team behind the Solar Impulse answered with a 24-hour endurance flight last week, proving that it is possible to collect and store more than enough energy during the day to last through the night. The goal of the program […]