The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey just keeps getting worse. As of Tuesday, the Hurricane is regrouping in the Gulf for another run at Texas, Louisiana and possibly Arkansas. And more airports are being impacted by the storm. On Monday evening, the Army Corps of Engineers started releasing water from the rapidly rising Addicks and more »

This Monday, AOPA filed official complaints with the FAA regarding fees charged by FBOs located at Waukegan National Airport (Illinois), Asheville Regional Airport (North Carolina) and Key West International Airport (Florida). All three are on AOPA’s list of “most complained about airports with egregious FBO prices.” Each location has a single FBO—each run by Signature more »

On the NTSB’s list of the most common causes of general aviation accidents between 2011 and 2015, fuel-related accidents ranked sixth. That’s more than 50 accidents each year. What is, perhaps, more striking is the NTSB findings that 95 percent of fuel management related accidents involved pilot error. In 56 percent of fuel-related accidents, the more »

The days-long storm, Hurricane Harvey, is not done yet. Forecasters expect some areas in Texas to be inundated with as much as 50 inches of rain. Closed airports are adding to the huge logistical problems of rescuing people trapped by floodwaters. In the days to come, the closings are also sure to affect the delivery more »

As of last week, the FAA has made some changes to its Flight Standards Service (AFS) including a new organizational structure and statements about its philosophy and goals for the future. Perhaps the biggest change is that the new structure removes regional divisions and divides oversight into four functional organizations: Air Carrier, General Aviation, Standards, more »

What do you get when you take a super rare astronomical phenomenon, confine it to a 70-mile swath across the United States, make it so that driving anywhere in that patch of temporary darkness is going to be nightmarish? You get a perfect storm for unprecedented light plane traffic, and that’s apparently just what we more »

Blackhawk Modifications celebrated Eclipse Day on Monday with the announcement that it had earned FAA STC approval for its modification package that puts new, more powerful Pratt & Whitney PT6-67A turboprop engines on existing King Air 350s. Blackhawk president Jim Allmon said the certification process included 172 flight hours over the course of 132 flights, more »

As pilots, we’re undoubtedly alike in that we keep our eyes and ears open for cool things to do with a plane. Go see a total eclipse of the sun? We’re there. So being that we pretty much think alike on such things, it should come as no surprise that there will be a lot more »

While the FCC is unlikely to start putting pilots in jail for misuse of the common emergency frequency, 121.5, the commission’s message is crystal clear: dialing up 121.5 is for real emergencies and pilots need to respect that fact. The commission has a point. There are plenty of frequencies for pilots to use for communications more »

Six years and more than 15,000 volunteer hours went into the construction a flyable replica of the World War I-era Morane-Saulnier Type L “Parasol” before the plane made its U.S. debut at this year’s AirVenture. The project was a joint venture between the Association Héritage Avions Morane-Saulnier and French aircraft manufacturer Daher. The lovely little more »

The recent announcement by DeLorean Aerospace that it’s developing what many are referring to as a “flying car” has garnered a lot of attention. For starters, yes, it’s that “DeLorean.” The start-up aviation company is run by a nephew of the infamous car maker John DeLorean whose cool gull-wing-door speedster starred in the mega hit more »

This Monday, the NTSB released an update on the August 12th crash of a Virginia State Police helicopter in Charlottesville, Virginia that killed Virginia State Police Officer-pilots H. Jay Cullen, 48, and Berke Bates, 40. The NTSB reported that the Bell 407 helicopter left Charlottesville airport at 3:54 pm. From 4:04 to 4:42, the aircraft more »

With the United States economy sluggish as ever despite a hot stock market, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association’s 2Q sales numbers aren’t as much a surprise as a continuing frustration. GAMA’s president and CEO Pete Bunce characterized it like this. “Results for the second quarter of this year,” he said, “are very much like the more »

Celebrated airshow pilot Sean D. Tucker mentioned last June that he was considering stepping away from a solo performance career that spans 40 years and more than 1,275 performances after the 2018 season. Sadly for anyone who has seen him perform—and perhaps even more-so for those who haven’t—it looks like he’s sticking to that plan. more »

To go along with its Oshkosh announcement of two new digital flight control systems—the S-TEC 5000 and the S-TEC 3100—Genesys Aerosystems also invited owners of 3100-compatible aircraft to enter a drawing to win a new S-TEC 3100 autopilot. Needless to say, there were plenty of pilots lining up to participate. Genesys gathered 394 qualified entries. more »

The City of Santa Monica isn’t wasting any time trying to get ahead of the pending lawsuits about its agreement with the FAA over immediately shortening the runway at Santa Monica Airport (KSMO) and closing the airport by 2028. On Tuesday night, the Santa Monica City Council officially approved a runway-shortening contract with engineering firm more »

There’s a new proposal on the table at the FAA that would make gaining RVSM approval for flight above 29,000 feet a whole lot simpler for U.S. aircraft. Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) was established starting in 1997 to reduce the vertical separation between aircraft operating between Flight Level 290 and 410 from 2,000 feet more »

The NTSB released earlier this week the final report on the crash of an Icon A5 amphibious LSA at Lake Berryessa, California, on May 5th of this year. The findings were consistent with what Icon suspected early on in the investigation, that the pilot accidentally flew at low level into a canyon with no possible more »