General aviation at Long Island’s MacArthur Airport is soaring. For the first nine months of 2012, MacArthur saw a 33% increase in flights by GA planes based at the airport compared with the same period in 2011, according to a report from Newsday. General aviation flights by planes not based at MacArthur jumped 15.5% in […]
New ASTM committee to develop roadmap to streamline certification process
ASTM International has formed Committee F44 on General Aviation Aircraft, bringing together industry heavyweights from around the world to work on a standards roadmap that will help transform the way general aviation aircraft are manufactured and certified around the world. The new ASTM Committee F44 was formed at the request of aviation industry organizations in […]
Garmin expands global aviation charting capabilities
Garmin has released its European VFR and IFR charts for the aera 795/796 aviation portable GPS, with VFR data sourced directly from Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS). “Pilots have flown behind DFS paper charts for years, but the ability to display the charts electronically is something our European customers have been asking for. We’ve listened to that […]
Pilot does an intentional ground loop
Aircraft: Cessna 180. Injuries: None. Location: Flagstaff, Ariz. Aircraft damage: Substantial. What reportedly happened: The pilot was attempting to land the tailwheel-equipped airplane. He listened to the automated weather that included a comment that ice was present on the runway, but the braking action was fair. The tower controller cleared the Cessna to land. While […]
Rectifying past mistakes
Everything is not necessarily as it seems. That’s true in political endeavors more often than we might want to believe. A case of mistaken assumptions was recently uncovered at my home airport. Perhaps you will find the story beneficial to you and your attempts to positively affect the management of your local airport. The airport […]
NATCA warns against sequestration
WASHINGTON, D.C. — General aviation will feel the heavy impact of the mandated 8.2% sequestration funding cut for the FAA if Congress doesn’t act to avert the across-the-board cuts. A report from National Air Traffic Control Association (NATCA) says the cut would cause furloughing between 2,000 and 2,200 air traffic controllers. This is about 12% […]
Russian ‘Beetle’ takes off
News from Russian sport aircraft producers is rare. Though the old USSR had a vast military aircraft complex, that hasn’t translated to recreation aircraft the way it did in the formerly Soviet Czech Republic, where many of our LSA originate. However, that doesn’t mean efforts are absent. We’ve seen some uptake of LSA (like Pipistrel) […]
Pilots needed for research project
Alaskan aviators are encouraged to volunteer to be interviewed for an aviation weather project, which aims to determine best practices for accessing and using weather data while flying in Alaska. The University of North Dakota and University of Alaska Anchorage are jointly conducting research with funding from the FAA, according to a report from the […]
Public comments wanted on new airport mapping tool
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Officials with the Washington State Department of Transportation is encouraging aviation enthusiasts and pilots to test the features and functions of a new, web-based Airport Mapping Application. The department designed the Airport Mapping Application with a goal of making the airport and land-use compatibility decision making process easier, officials said. WSDOT asks […]