Editor’s Log

If you’ve been watching closely over the past few years, you may have noticed several Airworthiness Directives (ADs) from the FAA concerning replacement cylinders for popular GA piston engines. Depending on the engine, the cylinder’s manufacturer and when it was installed, an applicable AD may require removal and replacement within 25 operating hours. At a minimum, it will mandate frequent inspections.

In July’s issue, I discussed the FAA’s demand that the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) cover controllers’ travel, per diem and overtime costs to provide ATC services at this year’s AirVenture fly-in. Subsequently, the EAA agreed to pay the agency some $447,000. (Full disclosure: EAA compensates me to work as a freelancer on the show’s daily newspaper during AirVenture.) There are a lot of opinions on this topic, ranging from, “They can have ATC fees when they pry them from my cold, dead hands,” to the more thoughtful one on the opposite page.

As this is written, the wreckage of Asiana Airlines Flight 214, a Boeing 777 that crashed while attempting to land at the San Francisco (Calif.) International Airport (SFO) on July 6, 2013, is still being examined. The accident was the first on U.S. soil involving a large jet transport since November 2001, and the first accident involving passenger fatalities aboard a U.S. scheduled carrier since 2009. It also was the first involving a fatality aboard a 777.

Recent rants in this space discussed the FAA’s role in Washington’s ongoing budget battles and, especially, proposed low-activity tower closures. After a couple of weeks of air traffic slowdowns brought on by ATC staffing furloughs and primarily affecting airline passengers in the northeast, Congress demonstrated it can move quickly: It passed a measure basically exempting the FAA—but no other agencies—from the sequestration process and allowing it to move its money around to eliminate ATC slowdowns. So far, the FAA’s actions haven’t had a widespread impact on general aviation. That could change.

The average small airplane in the United States is now 40 years old and the regulatory barriers to bringing new designs to market are resulting in a lack of innovation and investment in small airplane design.” So states one of the findings in a new bill introduced May 7 in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) and four cosponsors. The bill, H.R. 1848, is named the “Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013,” and its main goal is for the FAA to finalize its ongoing effort to rewrite FAR Part 23, regulations on certification of small airplanes, by December 31, 2015.

Last month in this space, I discussed the FAA’s plans to close scores of control towers around the country as part of its reaction to ongoing, manufactured federal budget crises. On April 5, two days before the first round of tower closures was scheduled and as this issue was being finalized, the FAA suddenly announced it would “delay the closures of all 149 federal contract air traffic control towers until June 15.”

It’s been at least five minutes since the last manufactured budget crisis in Washington, D.C., so it must be time for another one. The previous cliffs, shutdowns, grand bargains and other adolescent actions over the last 15-20 years have mostly avoided aviation operations in the U.S. Thanks to the latest federal foot-stamping, that could change, however, impacting how you and I aviate.

As you should know, the international consortium concerned with relaying electronic distress signals stopped monitoring the 121.5 MHz frequency on February 1, 2009, in favor of emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) and other devices transmitting on 406 MHz. Since the FAA does not require operators to upgrade to the new standard, the practical impact of this action was to obsolete older ELTs and make it more difficult to find a downed aircraft lacking the 406 MHz technology. In 2011, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed prohibiting use of an ELT capable of transmitting only on 121.5 MHz (the 406 MHz ELT standard includes 121.5 MHz signals). Mayhem ensued, and the FCC eventually backed down, in part thanks to FAA and AOPA input.

By the time you read this, it’s highly likely this magazine’s Favorite Aviation Agency will have a new administrator. Michael P. Huerta has been serving as the FAA’s Acting Administrator and awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation for several months. In fact, the FAA has been without a full-fledged administrator for more than a year.

Most pilots experienced in navigating with both VOR and GPS will prefer the latter. It’s easier, it’s more accurate and it’s available right down to the ground. The VOR technology—with the exception of ILS and where VOR stations are on the airport—enjoys only one advantage: It’s been around so long, most everyone knows how to use it. Well, everyone, that is, except pilots trained in aircraft lacking a VOR receiver, of which there are a growing number.