FAA

The final rule overhauling Part 23 Airworthiness Standards for GA aircraft officially took effect last summer. Recently the FAA issued 63 means of compliance (MOCs) for Part 23 intended to ease installation of innovative, safety-enhancing technologies into small airplanes while keeping costs down. The FAA participated with industry and other stakeholders in developing the standards […]

In an update posted on the agency’s website, the FAA said although two unleaded replacement fuels have been chosen for the Piston Aviation Fuels Initiative (PAFI), flight and some engine testing has been paused to assess the effects they will have on the larger GA fuel producing industry and the GA fleet. Both fuel producers, […]

The FAA’s Southern Region has rejected the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s claim that “egregious” FBO pricing at Asheville Regional Airport in North Carolina violates federal airport grant assurances, calling the Part 13 complaint the association filed last summer “unpersuasive.” The FAA Southern Region Airports Division wrote in a June 7 letter to AOPA general […]

Following closely behind the National Transportation Safety Board’s successful Loss of Control Inflight Roundtable, Phoenix-based Aviation Performance Solutions said a key reason LOC-I continues to be such a persistent and lethal threat to aviation safety stems from a number of misconceptions that continue to be either neglected or go unrecognized by agencies and organizations. A […]

Pilots and flight instructors have a new FAA advisory circular, AC 61-98D, to guide them through both the flight reviews and instrument proficiency checks required under Part 61. This newest version of the circular addresses changes in technology and the operational environment, their impact on recurrent training and proficiency checks. The FAA added important safety […]

The introduction of new aircraft might have just become a lot easier. The FAA has accepted ASTM International standards as a means of certification for Part 23 aircraft. A new rule published by the FAA on May 11 allows for 63 Means of Compliance based on 30 ASTM consensus standards related to general aviation aircraft. […]

FAA reauthorization legislation that would fund programs through 2023 heads to the U.S. Senate after passage of the House bill, HR 4, late last month. Lawmakers say they hope they can begin debating the legislation in the Senate in the coming weeks and get a final bill to President Donald Trump’s desk before the August […]

A beta testing phase of the FAA’s Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) is being incrementally implemented across the United States. The testing phase has begun in the south central region of the country and, once completed in mid-September, the LAANC will cover nearly 300 air traffic control facilities and about 500 airports. A […]

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 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 […]