Aviation News

The FAA has addressed a long-simmering aircraft availability issue that focuses on pilots trying to earn some pilot certificates. Until yesterday, the agency required commercial pilot applicants, as well as applicants for single-engine flight instructor ratings, to fly at least a portion of the checkride in a complex aircraft, that is, one with retractable landing […]

The FAA reauthorization bill now before Congress no longer includes a last-minute provision slipped into the legislation by Rep. Bill Shuster that would have required pilots for fractional giant NetJets to retire at age 65, the same age as airline pilots. Instead, NetJets pilots will be forced to retire at age 70, a compromise plan […]

The message from GA pilots to Congress on Tuesday was loud and clear: Leave ATC alone. Amid an outcry from general aviation groups, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) dropped an eleventh-hour effort to move oversight of air traffic control out of the FAA and into the Department of Transportation, a maneuver […]

Outgoing House Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Shuster has inserted an eleventh-hour amendment into the FAA Reauthorization bill now before Congress that would place the U.S. air traffic control system under the jurisdiction of an airline-dominated board of directors within the Department of Transportation rather than the FAA. General aviation leaders are urgently warning that the […]

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster failed in his bid to privatize ATC, but pilots for fractional giant NetJets say the Pennsylvania lawmaker has another trick up his sleeve: mandatory age 65 retirement for certain Part 135 charter and Part 91K fractional pilots, written into the FAA reauthorization bill now before Congress. Pilots […]

The Red Bull Air Race World Championships had its first competition in Cannes, France, over the weekend. But the three French competitors in the Masters Class: Mika Braegot, Nicholas Ivanoff and Francois Le Vot, got snubbed for the first opportunity to win on their home racecourse. Instead it was Australian Matt Hall who took home […]

The first time I spied that chunky Beluga on the ramp at Toulouse France as I taxied out for takeoff, it was clear the converted Airbus A300 was created for a very special task, carrying large, oddly-shaped cargo. But there’s little denying the Beluga is also one of the homeliest airplanes I’ve ever seen, reminding […]

May 1-31 is Learn to Fly month, a month-long effort to help flight training providers attract new pilots. This year, the drum beat is even louder than in the past as the shortage of career pilots continues to make news. Of course, Learn to Fly month doesn’t focus only on career aviators. The efforts will […]

Earlier today at the Aero Friedrichshafen expo in Germany, ForeFlight announced that it is introducing its popular aviation app to the European market. The app will be available in Europe later this summer. “We are combining an array of high-quality European data, our Eurocontrol-integrated flight planning and filing capabilities, and a broad suite of navigation […]

An Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University spokesman confirmed the flight school’s fleet of Piper Arrow training aircraft will remain grounded for the foreseeable future following the recent morning crash of a PA28R being flown by an ERAU student on an FAA flight test. The left wing of the aircraft separated from the airplane shortly after the pilot […]