This may not seem to be a column about politics, but it is. Because ultimately politics is the art of people interacting with other people in order to get something done. Based on that, flight instruction falls well within the realm of politics. And just like politics in the governmental sense, the politics of flight […]
Opinion
Meigs Field: Still a pyrrhic sacrifice to ‘good intentions’
With last month’s passing of Maggie Daley, Chicago’s former first lady, from power, political blogger Greg Hinz reflected on stillborn plans to turn Meigs Field, the city’s former lakefront GA airport, into a major city park. Years later: Nothing – a typical fate for big government plans and ever more so now under today’s tight […]
FAA administrator resigns after DWI
Following his Dec. 3 arrest for driving while intoxicated (DWI), Randy Babbitt resigned as administrator of the FAA and his deputy has taken over as acting administrator. Michael Huerta is expected to remain in the post until after next year’s election to avoid any nomination squabbles prior to the election. When submitting his resignation Dec. […]
Mistakes will be made
Human beings have a propensity for making decisions that lead to less than desirable outcomes. Said another way, we’re pretty dumb sometimes. That’s not exactly shocking news, I know. But then something comes down the news wires about one of us doing something stupid, or more often, allegedly doing something stupid, and we get ourselves […]
FK Lightplanes earns SLSA #123: FK12 Comet
As they’ve done numerous times, Hansen Air Group — a team of dedicated pilots, nearly all of whom fly or formerly flew airliners for their day job — has helped shepherd another Light-Sport Aircraft through the ASTM standards process to get a FAA airworthiness certificate. The Altanta area importer has done this with several aircraft, […]
Florida to repeal ethanol mandate?
Your bloggers have reported this year on Florida’s ethanol mandates, which took effect in January of this year. As a consequence, Florida’s huge boating and sport aviation communities have suffered from a lack of ethanol-free fuel and all the known negative effects of ethanol blends. It seems that consumers have had enough and are prepared […]
What’s wrong with user fees?
The Oct. 7 issue of General Aviation News included several articles warning against the dire consequences of user fees being proposed by our federal government. In a letter to the editor, Kevin Mossey even made the astounding claim that we “all need to sacrifice” by accepting higher fuel taxes. One can only imagine that he […]
FAA restores BARR to let pilots block flight info
Pilots on IFR flights will no longer have to submit a Certified Security Concern to the FAA in order to prevent their flight information from being broadcast over the Internet. FAA officials announced the reversal Friday, Dec. 2, after Congress ordered it in the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill. Previously pilots could “opt out” of […]
Electric Aircraft Development Alliance in works
A wide range of people recently sat in a room used all day long by the ASTM Committee that develops the Light-Sport Aircraft certificate standards. Apparently sitting in a room all day — while the sun shown brightly and the flying would have been great — was not enough punishment for this hard-working crowd. Indeed, […]