Launch date for the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer’s world-record attempt remains uncertain. As of press time, the launch date had been set for sometime between Feb. 8 and 11, moved up from Feb. 6 because of weather and “other unfavorable takeoff conditions,” according to officials at the Salina Municipal Airport in Kansas, where Steve Fossett is […]
News
FAA picks Lockheed Martin to operate AFSS
The FAA has selected a team headed by Lockheed Martin to provide services now offered by the agency’s Automated Flight Service Stations. The five-year contract, with an option for five more years, is estimated at $1.9 billion. FAA officials say turning AFSS duties over to Lockheed Martin will save $2.2 billion over the next 10 […]
North Carolina airport woos GA with new hangars
Aircraft won’t be the only thing taking off at Albert J. Ellis Airport (OAJ) in Jacksonville, North Carolina, this spring. Airport officials say they’re almost finished with the infrastructure work that will support new general aviation hangars. “The hangars will be built by corporations or private individuals, we’re just putting in the infrastructure,” explains airport […]
Commander Aircraft to be liquidated
Troubled times continue at Commander Aircraft Co., as the Bethany, Okla.-based company is set to be liquidated. After two failed attempts to find saviors for the bankrupt company, Commander’s December 2002 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing has been converted to a Chapter 7 filing by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. All operations at the company […]
Pilots say it’s time for a tower at Frederick
The time has come for a control tower at Frederick Municipal Airport (FDK), say airport manager Charles Abell and a lot of pilots at one of Maryland’s busiest airports. The tower proposal isn’t the only thing on Abell’s wish list. Public meetings about updating the airport’s master plan have elicited discussions of additional hangars, improved […]
WASP Marianne Beard Nutt dies at 84
Marianne Beard Nutt, a member of the WASP class of 1943, died Jan. 16. Nutt developed a passion for aviation when she was 7, after seeing Amelia Earhart. She did not have the money for flying lessons and was told girls could not be pilots. Nevertheless, she learned to fly, working odd jobs at an […]
Reach out and touch — your airplane
You live in the South, so icing isn’t a problem, right? Wrong, as this winter’s Arctic blasts demonstrate. Wing icing has been in the news a lot, lately, and pilots should be paying attention regardless of where they live. On Dec. 29, the National Transportation Safety Board issued an Alert to Pilots concerning ice accumulation […]
Gary Schmidt, Tanis Aircraft president, dies in crash
Gary E. Schmidt, president and owner of Tanis Aircraft in Glenwood, Minn., died in an aircraft accident near the Glenwood Airport Dec. 9, 2004. Schmidt bought Tanis Aircraft Services in January 2002 from the family of Peter Tanis, the company’s founder. Schmidt had a long career in marketing and used his skills to promote Tanis […]
Why security agencies fear GA
“We don’t know who you are.” That was the short answer from Greg Mayes, chief of aviation security at the Secret Service, when asked what possible threat his agency sees from general aviation. “With the airlines, we’ve vetted all the pilots, we vet all the passengers, we know everything that goes on board right down […]