FAA Posts

An Iconic Primer on Spin Resistance
June 4, 2012

An Iconic Primer on Spin Resistance

The Icon A5’s spin resistance show & tellWhen I hit the play button on this video, I was ready to pounce on every syllable of marketing hyperbole. Instead of half-told truths, I got a concise, comprehensive show & tell on what make…
FAA Takes a Fresh Look at GA Airports
May 28, 2012

FAA Takes a Fresh Look at GA Airports

Taking “A fresh look at the many roles General Aviation Airport play in the National Air Transportation System,” the FAA recently released the 34-page report of its in-depth, 18-month study of roughly 3,000 airports, General Aviation Air…
Reflecting on Flight Training’s Matriarch
May 16, 2012

Reflecting on Flight Training’s Matriarch

Evelyn Bryan Johnson died May 10, 2012 in her 102nd year. She was a flight instructor. She stopped counting the number of people she’d taught to fly when the number passed 3,000. A designated pilot examiner since 1952, when I met her in 1997 a…
CFIs Need Career Situational Awareness
May 9, 2012

CFIs Need Career Situational Awareness

Last week, the middle school where I am a substitute teacher held its annual career and hobby day, where students sign up for presentations  that interest them. I was on duty as a student wrangler, not a speaker, and it was happenstance that I ended…
No User Fees for GA … Yet
May 6, 2012

No User Fees for GA … Yet

I was trying to explain some of the subtleties behind the word altruism to my daughter this morning at breakfast, and it made me think about the fight against aviation user fees.And yes, we have a few truly interesting family meals around our house…
A Million Reports, Accidents & Demographics
April 29, 2012

A Million Reports, Accidents & Demographics

On April 24, the e-mail edition of Callback arrived in my in box. It proudly announced that the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System had processed its one millionth safety incident report on March 21, 2012. Three days later I received the NTSB rele…
What’s Aviation’s Future in a Polarized World?
April 20, 2012

What’s Aviation’s Future in a Polarized World?

At the World Aviation Training Symposium, held last week in Orlando, Boeing’s chief test & evaluation pilot for new airplane development, Mike Carriker, said the industry must modernize its educational methods and technology if it hopes to…
FAA Updates Training Standards & Manuals
April 2, 2012

FAA Updates Training Standards & Manuals

Back in the paper era I was filled with two-part dread every time the FAA’s Airman Testing Standards Branch had updated its practical test standards (PTS) and aviation training handbooks. Part I was the expense of keeping my training library u…
Cross-Country Quiz: ASI & Humble Pie
March 11, 2012

Cross-Country Quiz: ASI & Humble Pie

It’s been too many years since I was last pilot in command of an airplane, and even longer since I’ve made a cross-country flight. The AOPA Air Safety Institute must have known that flying may well be part of my life in the near future b…
FAA InFO Translates Canadian ATC Lingo
Feb. 29, 2012

FAA InFO Translates Canadian ATC Lingo

In an attempt to keep current with all aspects of aviation, I subscribe to all manner of e-mail updates. In this arena, the FAA is prolifically focused. My latest discovery is the InFO, short for Information For Operators.Produced by the FAA’…
Why Southwest Grabs My Business, Again and Again
Feb. 27, 2012

Why Southwest Grabs My Business, Again and Again

Word of Mouth marketing (WOM) is a bit like the Superman of campaigns. Nothing can stop it. That’s because the company the campaign focuses on has little or nothing to do with the effort. It’s all customer driven. People recommending pro…
Will Aviation Biofuel be New Farm Subsidy?
Jan. 22, 2012

Will Aviation Biofuel be New Farm Subsidy?

First thing last Monday morning I read that US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was scheduled to hold an hour-long meeting with aviation officials from Boeing, Honeywell, and United Airlines later that day at Boeing HQ. The announced …
Aviation: It’s ALWAYS About The Passengers
Jan. 19, 2012

Aviation: It’s ALWAYS About The Passengers

Last Saturday was not a good day for transportation, but for once the bad news was not about aviation. An immense cruise ship — the Costa Concordia — capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the west coast of Italy where rocks near the sho…
A Monkey in Our Subscription Works
Jan. 11, 2012

A Monkey in Our Subscription Works

A college professor of mine told me a story years ago — OK … MANY years ago — about how solving one problem often creates another. Boy … did our switch from Feedburner to Mail Chimp subscriber software — not to mention …
VOR Days Numbered in FAA Proposal
Jan. 3, 2012

VOR Days Numbered in FAA Proposal

In a general sense, I knew that NextGen would be the end of the VORs that have reliably led aviators for decades. But 10 days before Christmas, the retirement of these familiar white cones is much more real.That’s when the FAA published its r…
Pitch & Power and the Margin of Error
Dec. 10, 2011

Pitch & Power and the Margin of Error

A recent issue of AOPA’s Flight School Business included this story: FAA Updates CFI Renewal Clinic Guidelines. It referenced the updated advisory circular that covers FIRCs and noted that the FAA added angle of attack (AoA) to the list of cor…
Unmanned & Automated Aircraft: Are We Getting Too Smart for Our Own Good?
Nov. 28, 2011

Unmanned & Automated Aircraft: Are We Getting Too Smart for Our Own Good?

Serving the military in AfghanistanAccording to the The Daily Planet, the blog of Air & Space Smithsonian, in November troops in Afghanistan will likely be resupplied by the K-Max, an automated cargo helicopter. The video is from a test earl…
Boeing Flight Test Engineers Get Creative
Nov. 21, 2011

Boeing Flight Test Engineers Get Creative

Test pilots and flight test engineers are an amazing and interesting group of people. But they are deadly serious about their work because focus and attention to detail preserves not only their lives, but those who go aloft in the aircraft they are …
Mr. Babbitt Needs to Get in Shape
Oct. 26, 2011

Mr. Babbitt Needs to Get in Shape

Some functions come naturally to most humans, eating, sleeping, even defending ourselves … at least most of the time. But the message the House of Representatives just sent FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt with passage of the European Emissions…
Airlines Not Only Ones Addicted to Autopilot
Sept. 14, 2011

Airlines Not Only Ones Addicted to Autopilot

September started with an AP story that revealed the cost of airline cockpit automation, atrophied stick and rudder skills. As one might expect, there’s been a lot of comment on both sides of the argument. Some GA types have been, without just…
AOPA FTSRI Offers Hope for GA’s Future
Aug. 26, 2011

AOPA FTSRI Offers Hope for GA’s Future

Given its  more than half century of tradition unimpeded by progress, I’ve always been cynical about the future of general aviation and its life’s blood, the flight training industry that educates new pilots. Then I attended the next-to-…
Voices from the DC-3 a Delightful Surprise
Aug. 19, 2011

Voices from the DC-3 a Delightful Surprise

Throughout its life, now 75 years and counting, millions of words have been written about the iconic DC-3/C-47/R4D/Dakota. I’ve written some of them, and read most of them. So I cracked the cover on Together We Fly: Voices from the DC-3 with s…
AirVenture 2011: Memorable Waypoints
Aug. 2, 2011

AirVenture 2011: Memorable Waypoints

Sitting on the front porch with my battered feet bared to a healing breeze, I celebrated the end of my 34th EAA AirVenture Oshkosh marathon. Delivering my second round of rehydration elixir, my wife joined me. Having made the trek herself, she knows…
Three Cheers for ATC on its 75th Anniversary
July 17, 2011

Three Cheers for ATC on its 75th Anniversary

Any pilot who says an air traffic controller hasn’t saved his or her butt at least once is either lying or stopped flying after solo. Air traffic controllers are my best friends, and you couldn’t pay me enough to attempt their job at any…