Search Results for: general aviation inc

Not all that long ago, flying in thunderstorm weather was more of an art than a science. Weather radar hadn’t been invented; the only real technology available was to use the ADF and avoid areas to which its needle pointed. Grizzled veterans with years of experience flogging DC-3s across the Great Plains had developed their personal methods for dealing with them. Too often, those methods allowed penetration—sometimes at low levels, maybe at higher ones—and didn’t stress avoidance. These days, a pilot with a fraction of the experience those captains had is favored with many more tools with which to locate and avoid convective weather. In heavy-iron operations—and even smaller ones—extremely capable airborne weather radar is the norm. Even flivver drivers can access satellite- or ground-based Nexrad weather radar imagery for not much in the way of expensive hardware or subscriptions. The Nexrad option also affords pilots the ability to scroll well beyond an airborne radar’s range to look at conditions they won’t encounter for hours, if ever, in near-real-time.

Congress has begun the task of drafting legislation that would prohibit operators of U.S.-registered aircraft from participating in a European program to regulate aviation greenhouse emissions by imposing a so-called “carbon tax.” The Senate this week approved Senate Bill S.1956, the “European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act,” which directs the Department of Transportation to […]

This coming spring, Germany-based LSA manufacturer Flight Design will begin offering a “European Adventure” delivery option on new aircraft purchases. Similar in flavor to what some European automakers offer to their customers, Flight Design’s program includes a scenic, guided tour in the airplane facilitated by experienced, multi-lingual pilots who handle all the local details, allowing […]

With the economic downturn and unemployment and underemployment that ensued, many Americans are enjoying less disposable income. As a result, your flying budget may not be what it was a few years ago. And meanwhile, the cost of flying has risen. We all know that staying proficient is equivalent to reducing the risks associated with […]

This week EAA submitted comments to the FAA’s proposal for regulating “Residential Through-the-Fence (RTTF) Access at General Aviation Airports.” The comments are the result of three years of negotiations between EAA and the FAA Airports Division to grant residential property owners living adjacent to an airport direct access so they can fly. The FAA issued […]

The House Small Business Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow to examine the finer points of the Obama Administration’s proposed $100 per flight user fee and its potential impact on jobs. Chaired by Missouri Republican Sam Graves, the Small Business Committee has increased its scope and gained influence in recent years, especially since the recession […]

As the FAA is building out the infrastructure for its nationwide automatic dependent surveillance – broadcast (ADS-B) surveillance network, avionics manufacturers are beginning to market in earnest the gear that will take advantage of the benefits of this new technology. As this happens, it’s becoming apparent that there are greater challenges to ADS-B and greater […]

A bankruptcy judge has rejected a proposal to give eight top Hawker Beechcraft executives up to $5.3 million in bonuses, ruling the plan would reward them merely for staying at their jobs. The judge in the case said the plan amounted to retention incentives, and did not meet legal standards that require “challenging goals” before […]

As expected, France’s counterpart to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses pour la sécurité de l’aviation civile (BEA), on July 5 released its long-awaited final report into the loss of Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 that disappeared over the equitorial Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009. Also as expected, the BEA found a complicated series of events led to the crash, almost all of them associated with crew training and expectations.

A recent discussion with a friend who happens to be an aviation attorney got me thinking about how pilots put too much faith in cockpit traffic alert systems. Without spilling the beans on privileged client/attorney speak, he spoke of a lawsuit he was working that arose from an ugly mid-air collision involving an aircraft well-equipped with high-end traffic alerting gear. It’s the type of accident provoking lots of emotion since it sadly took some lives. From what I could gather, there were some fingers wrongly pointed at the traffic system manufacturer, as if the traffic system failed at its intended job.