Mark Phelps

There were no voice communications related to the crash of Air France Flight 447 last Sunday evening. But a spurt of telemetry data received from the four-year-old Airbus A330 indicated at least a dozen system failures, including loss of electrical power and pressurization. All 216 passengers (from as many as 32 different countries) and 12 […]

Last Friday, the Transportation Security Administration enacted a new security directive, SD-8G. The new measure replaced one that was much more restrictive, and would have required transient pilots to undergo separate background checks and acquire security badges for every airport they might visit that also has commercial airline service. (Estimates place the number of such […]

I really hadn’t meant it as a test of the TSA’s latest security directive, but as it worked out, it couldn’t have been planned any better. Weeks ago, I had made a June 1 appointment with Sensenich Propeller Service at Lancaster (Pennsylvania) Airport. My home-airport shop had noticed some shifting on the backing plate of […]

Former FAA Administrator Jane Garvey will head a panel of three mediators in an attempt to end a long-running contract dispute between the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). The sessions began last week and are expected to run through the first part of next month. Both feuding parties signed a process […]

Fallout from the crash of the Colgan Air Q400 is bringing down greater scrutiny on the regional airline industry. Four senators have called for the Inspector General of the Transportation Department to investigate safety within the industry. Their focus is on crew rest, compensation, training and other safety issues-all brought into question as part of […]

Department of Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano got an earful from no fewer than five general aviation groups. The aviation groups were unified in their resistance to the Transportation Security Administration’s plan to require badges for GA pilots to access certain areas of airports where there is airline service. Each airport would be responsible for […]

With the potential for a $5,000 fine-or worse-pilots and aircraft operators who leave the United States need to be aware of new customs rules on border crossing. The new rules went into effect last week and require a passenger manifest to be filed online through U.S. Customs’ electronic Advance Passenger Information System (eAPIS). For help […]

Congress has confirmed President Obama’s choice of Randy Babbitt as new FAA Administrator. Babbitt is former head of the Air Line Pilots Association and an aviation consultant. Besides living from hand to mouth through a series of temporary funding bills, the FAA has also operated under acting administrators Robert Sturgell (September 2007 to January 2009) […]

Last week, the House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 915, the 2009 version of an FAA funding authorization bill. The legislation is said to be virtually identical to the House bill that passed in 2007, only to be defeated in the Senate. Like the 2007 House proposal, this year’s funding bill does not […]

As we enter the summer fun flying season, there might be a time when someone suggests you try some spur-of-the-moment formation flying. On a VFR trip, flying within loose sight range of a friend or two can be fun. But any closer than that isn’t smart without formal training and practice — for all the […]