Do states have a right to control operations of emergency medical helicopters or is this role exclusive to the Federal Aviation Administration? With states eager to place restrictions on airports and flight paths, a decision favoring them could end up causing numerous problems for general aviation. The question was the center of an April 22 […]
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AOPA launches $1.5 million campaign to sell GA
Citing challenges facing general aviation, Craig Fuller, president of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, unveiled Monday a $1.5 million advertising and promotion campaign to gain public support to keep government from imposing devastating user fees, airport limitations, and other restrictions on air transportation that serves America. The program includes radio, television, on-line and print […]
To fly with Wilbur Wright
General Aviation News reader Ken Rapier, who runs the Tuskegee Airmen Young Eagles program in Chicago, sent a link to a fascinating film clip from Austrian archives. It shows Wilbur Wright demonstrating a Wright brothers aeroplane in Italy in 1909. The Wrights went to Europe because there was little interest in their invention in the […]
Industry groups lobby for boost in general fund contribution to FAA
A coalition of 17 industry and trade associations have sent a joint letter asking the House Transportation Committee to provide 25% of the FAA’s budget from the general tax fund. The letter states that General Fund money has long been used to bolster the FAA’s budget, noting that as recently as 2003, 25% of the […]
Work begins on FAA reauthorization
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Reauthorization of the FAA is nearly two years behind schedule. The House is trying again to pass a bill, hoping that it won’t be stalled – again – in the Senate. The present temporary reauthorization expires March 31. “We need to get a bill passed as quickly as possible,” said Rep. Jerry […]
Piedmont Aircraft Co. launches
Piedmont Aircraft Co. has opened in Winston-Salem, N.C., representing previously owned Beechcraft and Hawker aircraft. Industry veteran Tom Mekis is leading the company as president and CEO. Piedmont Aircraft Co. was recently part of Landmark Aviation, acquired when the Carlyle Group purchased and combined the assets of Piedmont-Hawthorne Aviation, Garrett Aviation Services and Associated Air […]
Congress gets to work
WASHINGTON. D.C. – Congress has a plateful of aviation issues to work on and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has started to take bites into them. Committee Chairman Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) called a meeting of the full committee in the early days of the 111th Congress to set out the agenda. Then, […]
President’s 2009 budget includes user fees, drop in airport aid
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The President’s fiscal year 2009 budget request for the FAA has been met with harsh criticism from aviation groups, as well as doubts and questions from the House aviation subcommittee. Continued calls for user fees, coupled with a decline in airport aid, brought quick comments from general aviation leaders. “The White House […]
Politics put FAA’s top spot in limbo
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nowhere is it more evident that politics rules government than what is going on with the inaction on presidential nominees. Robert Sturgell was nominated last October to be FAA administrator, but the Senate hasn’t held even one confirmation hearing. His is one of at least 75 nominations held up in the Senate. […]