Aviation News

It is not often that a fully aerobatic airplane is certified. But just this week the team at Bentonville, Arkansas-based Game Composites saw their GB1 GameBird receive its certification. The FAA signed the Part 23 paperwork yesterday — about four months after the European Aviation Safety Agency gave its approval. The GameBird was hatched in […]

The pilot shortage we’ve all been told would materialize any day? It’s finally a reality. Don’t believe it? Just look at Horizon Air, which canceled hundreds of flights this summer because it couldn’t find qualified pilots to fly its Q400 turboprops. Or SkyWest, whose CEO recently warned Congress not of a looming pilot shortage but […]

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association and Build A Plane opened registration earlier this week for the 2018 Aviation Design Challenge. The annual competition promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills through aviation to U.S. high school students. This year, 93 schools from 31 states and Washington, DC, registered for the competition, an 18 percent […]

Following the early July close call at San Francisco International airport when an Air Canada A320 nearly touched down on an active taxiway, rather than Runway 28 Right where the aircraft was cleared, the FAA published a number of best practices to call more attention to arrival issues. Safety alert for operators (17010) looks at […]

The Part 13 complaint the AOPA filed yesterday with the FAA on behalf of its membership focused on egregious FBO pricing at three primarily GA airports: Chicago’s Waukegan (UGN), Asheville NC (AVL) and Florida’s Key West International (EYW). The Part 13 complaint process is an informal method for impacted parties to ask the FAA to […]

People were warned not to fly their aerial photography platforms leading up to Hurricane Harvey. The FAA knew that onlookers by drone would be a hazardous problem for the incoming hurricane and post hurricane relief efforts. The FAA’s official statement: “The FAA warns unauthorized drone operators that they may be subject to significant fines if […]

Since Hurricane Harvey first made landfall in Rockport, Texas, as a category 4 storm with winds as high 130 mph, it has been clear that the damage done to southeastern Texas and other Gulf areas would be catastrophic and historic. FEMA director Brock Long called Hurricane Harvey a “landmark event” in terms of the damage […]

The FAA is asking for comments on an airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Lycoming engines. The AD, 2017-NE-27-AD, which requires an inspection of connecting rods and replacement of affected connecting rod small end bushings, was prompted by reports of connecting rod failures resulting in uncontained engine failure and in-flight shutdowns. While the emergency AD became […]

The Department of Transportation’s Inspector General, Calvin Scovel III, last week delivered an 18-page letter to House Transportation leaders Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), Chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Chairman Subcommittee on Aviation, following a six-month deep dive into the FAA’s business case and assumptions about NextGen. After […]

The trends detailed in the 26th Joseph T. Nall review of GA accidents published yesterday showed some numbers that weren’t going to make people jump for joy, while the GA scorecard, a less detailed, supplemental look at more recent data did show numbers headed in the right direction. For instance, the scorecard showed a very […]