FAA

The FAA last week committed to immediately address the industry’s growing shortage of designated pilot examiners available to give checkrides for all categories of pilot certificates. The Flight School Association of North America says some of the areas hardest hit by DPE shortages include “Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Texas, the Carolina’s and areas in […]

The National Transportation Safety Board held its first ever road show event yesterday at AirVenture with an entire day focused on loss of control, an industry epidemic that claims more lives than any other single cause. NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt, a retired airline pilot, emphasized the importance of solving this nagging problem during his opening […]

Politico‘s Morning Transportation reported Wednesday that, “Commerce Chairman John Thune told reporters Tuesday that lawmakers have offered about 100 amendments to the FAA reauthorization (S. 1405 (115)), and aides are “trying to narrow that list of amendments down to a handful.” He reiterated that the bill could reach the floor next week at the earliest […]

When John came to in the hospital a number of years ago after a lapse of consciousness, you will appreciate that the very first concern he expressed was for his aviation medical certificate. Perhaps the most significant and deeply personal touchpoint with the FAA for every pilot is the medical certification process. To a pilot, […]

Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’gn5840itSUh0B9b3lnexNA’,sig:’ArMNSzFS_lZ9n6jvWcwoZg2BBVtK2ciysk8_zgCNgeU=’,w:’594px’,h:’396px’,items:’84315862′,caption: true ,tld:’com’,is360: false })}); The FAA proposed new standards for bird strike testing in jet engines, as a response 2009’s “Miracle on the Hudson” incident. The proposed new test standards are based on a report from 2015 on the accident. In 2009, a US Airways Airbus A320 flew into a flock […]

After receiving a report of undersized fasteners possibly being used during the construction of some Piper M600s, the FAA on Tuesday issued an airworthiness directive to address what it called an “unsafe condition.” The AD, effective July 25, 2018, is aimed at M600s serial numbers 4698004 thru 4698041. The agency’s concern is focused on the […]

The FAA recently ruled in favor of Key West International Airport after conducting a review of the field’s only FBO in response to a complaint filed last year by AOPA about pricing practices and ramp access at KEYW. AOPA’s Part 13 complaint claimed that the Signature Flight Support FBO was violating Key West International Airport’s […]

The Inspector General’s office of the DOT recently audited the FAA’s efforts to reduce runway incursions following a 2015 agency effort to improve safety. The inspector general’s office traditionally functions as the common sense review arm for projects within the DOT. The IG learned that overall, the FAA has experienced a nearly 83 percent increase […]

The pilot shortage sweeping through the regional airline industry has also been partially responsible for a shortage of available flight instructors. Buried inside the data on that shortage is the realization that we’re also short of designated pilot examiners, mostly the local CFIs given the nod by the FAA to deliver checkrides on behalf of […]

A final FAA rule published in the Federal Register has removed one more major roadblock to certifying more pilots. The updated Part 61 will soon approve the use of a technically advanced airplane, like a Cirrus, as a substitute for the traditional complex aircraft used for commercial and flight instructor checkrides. Some of the changes […]