Aviation News

The TSA’s Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) reached the end of its comment period last week to a fresh round of raspberries-not only from the aviation peanut gallery but also from the state legislature of Alaska. State Senator Gene Therriaut and Representative Mike Kelly proposed anti-LASP resolutions in their respective chambers. National Air Transportation Association […]

Totally fair or not, for a newspaper reporter, the irony was just too juicy to resist. Big Three auto industry executives flying ‘luxury jets’ to Washington to plead for a taxpayer bailout. The story caused a national sensation and set packs of other reporters on the scent, hoping to share some of the glory of […]

I remember a story from years ago about a group of local kids near an airport who broke into several airplanes and stole avionics. They were found out when someone heard an ELT whoop-whooping on 121.5 and they tracked it to the trunk of a junk car where the kids had stashed the loot-after unwittingly […]

Last month, when Eclipse shifted from Chapter 11 reorganization to Chapter 7 liquidation, the logical questions became, “Will someone step in?” and, “What can be done if someone does?” The answer to the first question came in the form of an announcement from a man named Phil Friedman that he would bid for the assets […]

If ever there were an object lesson on preflight checks, the NTSB investigation into the fatal crash of a factory demonstrator Remos GX light sport aircraft in January indicates that the left aileron might not have been properly connected. The trailerable Remos has folding wings, and the NTSB wrote: “… the left aileron’s quick release […]

A segment in President Obama’s budget proposal has opponents of general aviation user fees sounding the alarm. Page 129 of the budget “proposes repealing some aviation excise taxes and replacing these taxes with direct user charges.” The charges, generally a synonym for fees to use specific FAA services-including air traffic control-are said to total some […]

For the first time in five years general aviation airplane shipments declined with 3,969 airplanes delivered compared to 4,272 in 2007. Most of the drop occurred in the final quarter of the year, and the decline was limited to piston airplanes with both business jets and turboprops showing an increase. Piston airplane deliveries at 2,119 […]

Some might suspect sour grapes, but at an economic summit earlier this week, Senator John McCain questioned whether his rival in last November’s presidential election really needs $11.2 billion worth of new helicopters. In 2005, then-President Bush pressed for upgraded rotorcraft for the presidential mission. In light of the September 11 attacks, John Young, assistant […]

Facing the ravages of NTSB scrutiny for a rash of fatal crashes, the helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) industry could be seeing some good news. Observers are pointing to the focus on health care in the current economic stimulus package as boding well for HEMS flights. According to reports, roughly half of all EMS flights […]

In the years following the 9/11 attacks, Congress passed an accelerated depreciation tax incentive plan to boost sales of aircraft. It’s back; and the newly passed program joins some $1.1 billion in airport funding as part of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. The general aviation industry has lost a reported total of approximately 11,000 […]