FAA Posts

By Rob MarkIs there anything more stressful than knowing you want to buy your budding aviator something, but knowing full well that the economy has taken a toll on your pocketbook? Sure they might love anything you buy them now, but after Christmas…

A good question, posed by Matt Thomas in his comment about New Book Holds Hope for Aviation’s Future. “Do they risk finding other things to do that are perhaps more fun?” he asked on the next line, referring to pilots in general a…

Aviation has weathered a number of economic storms in its history, most notably the Great Depression and the collapse of the GA boom that followed World War II. How the industry met and survived past challenges unfortunately will not predict aviati…

The only thing that sucks worse than the economy right now is the state of aviation. Mix layoffs with shrinking pilot numbers and the growing list of new regulations and requirements that benefit only bureaucrats, and you have a case of cynicism ab…

Most people will tell you I’m a fairly gregarious person. Even a few might tell you I talk way too much. I’m the guy that wants to introduce everyone to everyone else. But there is one place I absolutely clam up and simply shy away from …

Cessna recently lifted the lid on its next generation flight training program. After military and airline training programs have proven the efficacy of scenario-based training for decades, Cessna is finally bringing it to general aviation. Working…

By now, most aviators are aware of the TSA’s new focus on general aviation security now that they have slapped the airlines around enough over the past five or six years that is. I’ve always thought anything that is detrimental to any se…

Airframe manufacturers are dealing with the financial fires spawned by the global economic meltdown in many ways, including reorganization, furloughs, and layoffs. American Champion Aircraft is pursuing a different tact, introducing a new airplane…

Hasn’t this just been an awful month or so, I mean what with the roller coaster ride of the economy, thousands of people loosing their jobs, not to mention the stress of trying to figure out who will lead the United States for the next four ye…

It only took the agency a couple of years – actually about 10 I believe – but FAA has finally taken action on the problem of too many airplanes and two few air traffic controllers to keep them all apart. And before you ask, yes, the down…

When the urge to fly strikes me, but inadequate weather or funds make the satisfaction of this desire impractical, I often turn to the AOPA Air Safety Foundation Interactive Safety Courses. Spending an hour online isn’t the same as one in the…

Cleaning out an old flight bag, in a long unvisited pocket I found a NASA form that must be more than a decade old. I was flying more than I do now, and I always carried the form in case I needed to submit the details of some inadvertent stupid pil…

If my homebuilding buddies are a typical sample of the amateur-built airplane community, there’s a lot of confusion about what led to the new policy the FAA has proposed. (See Homebuilt Aircraft: How Much is More than Half?) My friends are so…

It’s always bugged me that I need two sectional charts–Green Bay and Chicago–to get from my home in OSH to my family growing-up grounds west of the commercial Class B airspace plug stuck in the ground at ORD.It’s more than …

During the late 1990s I participated in the FAA Pilot Proficiency Award Program. Each year, in return for attending one safety seminar and logging three hours with an instructor (one each for airwork, patternwork, and hoodwork) I met the biennial fl…

I remember the morning of August 3, 1981 vividly as I turned on the TV to find news stories of air traffic controller members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization-PATCO-marching with picket signs at the base of the tower at Chica…

From AirVenture 2008 – If I say that most CFIs make lousy business people, I’m unlikely to offend too many people … some for sure, just not too many I’ll wager. The reason is simple. Most CFIs do make lousy business people be…

From AirVenture 2008 – Five minutes before the blog session began at AirVenture yesterday, I was wondering if the whole thing had been such a good idea. There were five people in the room. Maybe it was too soon to talk social media.Then, as t…

Anyone who follows the happenings of the FAA and air traffic control knows John Carr. He spent more than a couple of years at the helm of NATCA, the controller’s union, and was Pat Forrey’s predecessor. I had the pleasure of interviewing…

It doesn’t seem possible that it’s been nearly a year in the making, but it has. When I suggested a get together for aviation bloggers last fall I never thought I’d see much interest. But was I wrong. By Thanksgiving I’d had …

You have to love this one. And this has nothing to do with FAA!London’s Times Online and Plane Stupid are spreading the story about how the BAA apparently supported its case for a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport – the b…

Am I the last airman in America to totally ignore the free and invaluable gift that is FAAST, the FAA Safety Team at www.FAASafety.gov? Sometime during the past two years I gave the FAA my email address. When and how doesn’t matter. WhatR…

Talking to friends, flight schools, and FBOs it is clear that I’m not the only one who isn’t flying as much as I used to. With avgas going for roughly $6 a gallon or more, depending where you live, direct operating costs are climbing fa…

Close on the heels of this 4th of July comes the realization that the most heated presidential election we will probably see in our life times is really upon us. The relentless drum-beat from both nominees is that this nation is in serious need of s…