Briefing

Airbus Proposes Flight Deck Toilets Pilot unions object to Airbus’s proposal to equip at least some of its aircraft with flight deck toilets. The plan is to put an open biffy behind the captain’s seat so that single-pilot operations can flow smoothly during long haul flights on Extended Minimum Crew Operations (eMCO) protocols. Airbus is […]

AI Employed To Prevent Incursions Universal Avionics has developed a ground environment sensor system that provides enhanced guidance for pilots at airports and can warn them if they are headed for an incursion, even if they’re following ATC instructions. The system uses artificial intelligence to meld voice recognition of individual ATC controllers with instantaneous transcription […]

Spoofing Confusion I enjoyed your “GPS Jamming, Spoofing” article in June 2024. Would you please expand on your comment that “GPS satellite spoofing attacks are often detected by a jump in the time reported from the GPS.”?  Where would I check to see if there was a “jump in the GPS time”? Does that mean […]

Swift Gets 100R STC Swift Fuels’ 100R unleaded aviation fuel has received an STC for use in Cessna 172 R and S fuel injected models. The STC is a significant milestone for the fuel and making it the second high octane unleaded to get FAA approval behind GAMI’s G100UL. The two aircraft models, the most […]

California Lead Ban Passed The California legislature passed a bill banning leaded aviation fuel by 2031. After passage by the State House 59-11, the Senate confirmed it 30-8. The final bill is a compromise on the original introduced by Democratic Sen. Caroline Menjivar earlier this year. She proposed a phased approach based on demographics of […]

Boulder Launches Airport Closure Constitutional Challenge Civic leaders of Boulder, Colorado, have a new tack to close their airport (in favor of housing), with potentially far-reaching consequences. The city sued the FAA alleging its power over the destiny of the city’s airport is constitutional overreach that impedes the city’s ability to carry out its business. […]

Cirrus Service Advisory Prompts Unleaded Fuel Warranty Debate Cirrus Aircraft has advised its customers to not use GAMI G100UL in its aircraft because it can’t conclusively establish whether the fuel can affect materials in the fuel system. The company issued a service advisory saying that “at this time, Cirrus does not approve the use of […]

Roswell Wins Air Races Roswell, New Mexico, was chosen to host the National Championship Air Races starting in 2025. The races will be held at the Roswell Air Center, once at the center of UFO conspiracy theories. The airport is mainly known for its vast boneyard of hundreds of airliners and other aircraft, which included […]

MOSAIC Expected In 2025 The Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) final rule likely won’t be enacted until sometime in 2025. The comment period closed for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the expansion of specifications for Light Sport aircraft in January and at the time hopes were high that the final rule would be […]

ALPA Says Pilot Supply “Stable” The Air Line Pilots Association has declared the U.S. pilot supply “stable” after two years of going against the grain and disputing the notion of an industry-wide shortage. In its latest comments on the topic, ALPA cites FAA statistics that show about 11,000 people earned ATP certificates in 2023. It […]