Rob Mark

Textron’s Beechcraft subsidiary has received full FAA certification for all program elements of its Beechcraft/Hawker 400A upgrade. All upgrade work is completed either in Wichita, Kansas, or at a Textron Aviation service center. The completed effort transforms the old 1980s-era airframe into a Hawker 400XPR that offers improved climb and takeoff performance, as well as […]

The U.S. Army announced plans today to integrate Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) into its fixed-wing flight training program beginning March 2017. The training will be conducted at CAE’s new Dothan Training Center, currently under construction, at the Dothan Regional Airport in Alabama. Before that training can begin, however, approximately 18 CAE instructors must […]

The U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) said a recently completed analysis of fatal accidents that occurred between 2009 and 2013 will become the basis for a number of safety recommendations in addition to targeted community outreach efforts. Between 2016 and 2019, the USHST, an industry-government partnership, wants to see a reduction in fatal accidents. The […]

The FAA last week decided it could not ignore the potential safety risks for owners of Samsung’s recently released Galaxy Note7 smartphones. Samsung has urged owners to return all of the 2.5 million Note7s in service because nearly three dozen of the devices have spontaneously burst into flame due to a problem with the phone’s […]

Despite the FAA’s early-August job-vacancy announcement seeking candidates to fill 1,400 trainee controller openings, an effort that netted the agency tens of thousands of applicants, the agency said it won’t overlook another possible pool of ATC experience. The agency took the somewhat unusual step last week of publishing a job announcement specifically aimed at men […]

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says the recurrent training air traffic controllers receive to teach them how to effectively deal with pilots in need of emergency assistance often falls considerably short of any acceptable standard. This is also not the first time the NTSB cited the FAA over inadequate controller training. In a Safety […]

There apparently are many people who want to own and operate a business airplane, but who pass on the opportunity because of the cost, the paperwork, or simply because they know they’ll never use the airplane enough to justify all the work or the money they’ll spend. Partners in Aviation (PIA) and the PIA Co-Ownership […]

The FAA will begin redesigning the Southern California Metroplex airspace as soon as November, replacing dozens of existing conventional air traffic control procedures with new satellite-based versions. The implementation green light follows the agency’s finding last week that the changes to the massive Metroplex airspace should have no significant impact on current or future operations. […]

With loss of control still the No. 1 cause of fatalities in commercial and general aviation, Aviation Performance Solutions (APS) in Mesa, Arizona, said last week that a college student, Chin-An Lin, had completed the company’s Upset Prevention and Recovery course. Chin-An, an international Aeronautical Science student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, received the training under […]

Gulfstream Aerospace this week announced its new Performance iPad app for the G650 series, a tool the company said represents the first phase of an intuitive mobile product. The Performance iPad app calculates precise takeoff and landing performance data, replacing paper charts and manual calculations. The results are quickly displayed in simple, easy-to-understand graphics on […]