FAA

Most US pilots probably don’t know that an FAA license is required to conduct any kind of commercial space launch or reentry within the United States. Last year, the agency office that issues these permits said it was busier than ever, with 41 commercial space operations launches and reentries. One launch in May, a SpaceX […]

The very fluid situation surrounding emergency-use authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech has moved fast in the last few days, and initially, pilots, unions, and aviation associations were in a holding pattern awaiting guidance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The question to be answered was whether pilots—especially those who make their living flying […]

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) recently conducted a survey to generate input from their member pilots in response to an FAA notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) introducing a new electronic Pilot Records Database (PRD) that would involve certain Part 91 operators. Based on the comments received, the […]

Early yesterday morning, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson signed an official “Recission of Emergency Order of Prohibition.” In lay terms, that meant operators of the Boeing 737 Max may again begin flying the aircraft subject to the conditions laid out by the agency related to maintenance and pilot training. Max aircraft around the world have been […]

Recent data from the National Transportation Safety Board says, over the past decade, the trend in general aviation accidents has been headed in a positive direction—down. In 2012, the board recorded 1,471 GA accidents, 273 of which were fatal. Those accidents claimed the lives of 440 people. The NTSB data available from 2017 lists 1,233 […]

The US Government Accountability Office recently published a report about the methodology used by the FAA’s Office of Aviation Safety to assess the competency of its engineer and inspector force. The GAO says there’s a need to respond to workforce changes brought on by retiring personnel, as well as the host of new technologies needed […]

PEGASAS, is not just another aviation-weather acronym—it stands for the Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility, and Sustainability, an FAA Center of Excellence for General Aviation. Amongst the long list of efforts produced by PEGASAS has been Project 4, Wx Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC), which concluded in August 2018. Project 4 collected information […]

The FAA published its final AD on inspections for a long series of single-engine Textron Aviation (Cessna) aircraft. The airworthiness directive goes into effect on November 12, 2020. The AD was prompted by cracks found in the lower area of the forward cabin doorpost bulkhead, and it requires repeated inspections of the lower area of […]

On August 28, the FAA published an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) 2020-18-51 for certain Sandia attitude indicators with a part number (P/N) 306171-10 or 306171-20 installed, as well as those marketed as BendixKing Model KI-300 or Sandia Model SAI-340A. This emergency AD was prompted by an initial report of three failed attitude indicators (P/N 306171-10) […]

Aircraft accident investigations often take years as the players sift through the physical evidence, voice and radar recordings and interview witnesses trying to piece together the cause. The ongoing investigation into last January’s crash of the helicopter (N72EX) carrying basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others, took an interesting twist last week after […]