FAA

Fairfax, Virginia, police arrested FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt this weekend for drunk driving. Babbitt was allegedly under the influence of alcohol and driving on the wrong side of Old Lee Highway in Fairfax when he was pulled over. Babbitt was alone in the automobile, according to reports. The city does not release blood alcohol levels […]

After months of uncertainty in Washington regarding the future of several aviation-related programs, President Obama has signed an appropriations bill for 2012 that provides funding for the FAA and reinstates the Block Aircraft Registry Request (BARR) program, ensuring the privacy of aircraft owners and operators. The signing of the bill serves as temporary relief for […]

An aviation rulemaking committee recently concluded there is no justification for a new mandate requiring automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) “In” technology, recommending instead that the FAA promote voluntary equipage for the “foreseeable future.” That’s great news for general aviation, but it doesn’t mean you should cross this game-changing technology off your avionics must-have list. The […]

Sitting in the jump seat of a corporate Gulfstream G450 on approach to Morristown Municipal Airport’s Runway 5, I saw the tiny starlings a fraction of a second before the copilot called out, matter-of-factly, “Birds.” We flew through an entire flock of the little creatures and, although I was pretty sure we’d hit more than […]

Days after setting up a website to allow the public to report instances of lasers being pointed at aircraft in flight, the FAA is urging witnesses to contact police after someone pointed a green laser at six airliners on approach to New York LaGuardia Airport over the weekend. The laser was shined from a point […]

Laser pointers are fun, aren’t they? We’ve all held or at least seen these pen-sized gadgets. They’re useful for highlighting particularly interesting parts of PowerPoint slides or mounting to rifles and pistols for improved long-distance targeting. I personally am guilty of making cats do burnouts across the kitchen floor with a red laser pen. When […]

In an effort to combat the growing problem of lasers being pointed at aircraft, where they can affect the pilots’ vision, the FAA has created a new website to make it easier for aviators and the public to report laser incidents. The website includes links for reporting laser incidents as well as a database of […]

The FAA last week issued a final rule intended to prevent FAA inspectors from working for the airlines they previously oversaw for two years after they leave the agency. The rule applies to FAA personnel who had oversight responsibility over the airlines (as well as over fractional providers and other firms that offer commercial air […]

Conceding that the certification process for light general aviation airplanes has become a complicated and counter-productive morass of rules and restrictions, the FAA has formed a committee whose responsibility will focus on modernizing the design and manufacturing of entry-level Part 23 airplanes.**** FAA officials and industry leaders are hopeful the streamlined regulations will result in […]

The FAA says that a draft advisory circular that seemed to imply that rank-and-file Part 91 aviators would be held to the same standards as charter providers and the airlines when using EFBs (like the Class 1 Apple iPad) was never intended to change the regulatory lay of the land. The FAA’s Steve Morrison, who […]