The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that the probable cause of the crash that killed Senator Ted Stevens and four others “was the pilot’s temporary unresponsiveness for reasons that could not be established from the available information.” Contributing to the investigation’s inability to determine more precisely what caused the crash in the mountains near […]
News
Conservation group puts pressure on EPA about 100LL
Conservation group Friends of the Earth has sent a notice of intent to sue to the Environmental Protection Agency regarding its failure to respond to a 2006 petition asking for the regulation of lead emissions from general aviation aircraft under the Clean Air Act. The petition specifically asked the EPA to find that lead emissions […]
Construction on Tri-Motor Museum to begin in June
A contract to build the new Tri-Motor Museum in Ohio has been awarded, with construction slated to begin next month. According to Ken Benjamin chairman of the Tri-Motor Heritage Foundation, museum facility was awarded to Janotta & Herner Inc., an employee-owned company based in Monroeville, Ohio. The new 36,000-square-foot facility will be located at the […]
Sporty’s celebrates 50th anniversary with record crowds at annual fly-in
The theme of Sporty’s seventh annual Fly-In was the 50th anniversary of the company, but ideal weather, dozens of exhibitors, free seminars and free hot dogs all worked as a magnet to draw thousands of pilots and aircraft owners to Sporty’s Clermont County Airport on Saturday, May 21. Beginning at 10 a.m., fly-in participants were […]
PowerNap Inventor offers to help controllers fight fatigue
Jonathan Husni, MBA, IT expert and inventor of PowerNap audio products, has offered the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), 100 PowerNap CDs and a 50% discount on his company’s PowerNap Machine, if it will try his technology as a solution to the fatigue problem that has caused […]
The allure of Warbirds, Part II
In the first part of this story, I chronicled my flight with the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team at this year’s Sun ’n Fun. At the end of the flight, Steve Gustafson, who flies the left wing slot for the team, sighed and said, “And back to reality.” I was struck by Gustafson’s remark because I’d heard […]
FAA to modify knowledge exams
The FAA will immediately reverse some of the changes made to the Fundamentals of Instruction (FOI) knowledge test, review others, and regrade tests taken since February when pass rates plummeted. The reversal comes after FAA officials met in early May in Oklahoma City with officials from the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the National […]
SwiftFuel meets new ASTM standard
Swift Enterprises, Ltd. has been developing an unleaded replacement for aviation gasoline for the last five years, called 100SF. One of the milestones in the path to commercialization of the new fuel is the publication of a specification by ASTM International that defines their fuel. That happened in early May when ASTM International approved a […]
Senators back move to protect GPS
A coalition of 33 senators, including 13 who are members of the Senate General Aviation Caucus, have asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to rescind wireless network operator LightSquared’s approval to expand until the company can demonstrate that signals from tens of thousands of ground stations won’t interfere with GPS reception. The letter comes after […]