Stephen Pope

As part of a broad initiative begun five years ago to improve aviation’s “safety culture,” the FAA is encouraging air traffic controllers to report operational errors and mistakes without fear of punishment or reprisal. The change is leading to an increase in reported errors but, the agency says, a reduction in overall risk as well. […]

In its latest annual industry forecast, the FAA predicts the number of general aviation piston airplanes will decline at a rate of 0.1 percent over the next 20 years, even as airline and business jet travel greatly expand. The forecast’s findings, presented at the 37th Annual FAA Forecast Conference in Washington, D.C., last week, project […]

Beginning on Oct. 1, the FAA will switch to its online Form 8500-8 medical application, otherwise known as “FAA MedXpress,” in a move aimed at eliminating the cumbersome paper medical forms. The FAA introduced the online form in 2007, but didn’t make its use mandatory. In explaining the change, the agency said the MedXpress system […]

If there’s anything that the FAA’s latest aviation industry forecast proves, it’s that you can make the numbers paint just about any picture you want them to, especially when you’re guessing using assumptions about what might happen 20 years from now. For instance, what if I told you that the number of student pilots in […]

BRP Rotax has launched a new engine, the Rotax 912 iS, as an evolution of its popular four-cylinder, four-stroke line for the light-sport market. Designed to burn less gas without sacrificing performance or reliability, the engine is claimed to be as much as 70 percent more fuel-efficient than competing engines. The launch customer for the […]

A Buffalo Airways Lockheed Electra featured in the reality TV series “Ice Pilots NWT” made a successful belly landing at Yellowknife Airport in Canada on Monday after its right landing gear became stuck in the up position. The 50-year-old Electra skidded to a halt off the runway after its pilots spent more than an hour […]

How can you tell if you’re on a collision course with another airplane? Your biggest clue will be that there will be no relative motion between your airplane and the other aircraft. If you can maneuver in such a way to make the other aircraft appear as though it’s moving relative to your location in […]

Nearly 200 bipartisan members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to President Obama opposing the $100 per-flight user fee for business jets and turboprops proposed in the administration’s fiscal 2013 budget. In the letter, Representatives note that commercial and general aviation are part of a vital industry providing millions of U.S. jobs. “We […]

Esterline CMC Electronics‘ SmartDeck integrated avionics system has its first OEM customer after Evektor of the Czech Republic this week announced the cockpit’s selection aboard the multipurpose EV-55 Outback twin turboprop. SmartDeck has had a long gestation, starting out in the mid 1990s as a project begun by Goodrich. The cockpit system has been improved […]

Lloyd’s of London wrote the first-ever aviation insurance policy in 1911. By 1912, the company stopped writing aviation policies due to steep losses suffered from crashes by several of its policy-holders. Today, general aviation pilots face a similar situation: There were once a great many companies providing aviation insurance, but that number has dwindled in […]