Before leaving for the Thanksgiving holiday, Congress approved Fiscal Year 2006 funding for the FAA totaling approximately $13.8 billion, which is $276 million more than the current year and more than $1.1 billion higher than President Bush’s request. The bill language contains no user fees, but general aviation organizations have warned that the battle is far from over. FY2006 will expire on September 30.
Air safety
October 24, 2006 - 10:31am
Noting that about two-thirds of all general aviation accidents that occur in IMC are fatal, the NTSB recently completed a study to better understand the risk factors associated with such accidents.
The Board used “case control methodology,” which compared a group of accident flights to a matching group of nonaccident flights to identify patterns of variables that distinguished the two groups from each other.
October 24, 2006 - 10:26am
Arinc plans to eliminate guesswork from the aircraft weight-and-balance equation. The Annapolis, Md.-based transportation communications and systems engineering specialist has received a patent for new weight-and-balance technology that it says will precisely, unobtrusively and automatically weigh passengers and their carry-on items before boarding.
October 24, 2006 - 8:10am
By September next year European aircraft maintenance providers will be obliged to have conducted approved human factors training for their staff. The requirement is included in Part 145 rules issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), but national aviation authorities’ (NAAs) inconsistent implementation of the rule appears to be causing confusion for some European companies.
October 24, 2006 - 8:07am
It is hard to believe that despite the passage of more than nine years since that hot July night, the discussion continues about TWA Flight 800, which crashed off the coast of Long Island in July 1996.
October 23, 2006 - 12:04pm
The Helicopter Association International (HAI) has appealed to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey to further collaborate with the industry to improve communications and weather information for flight operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
October 23, 2006 - 9:41am
Dassault has begun deliveries of the Falcon 900EX equipped with the fully operational EASy flight deck. The so-called “Step 3” of EASy includes new features, such as video display capability. It also corrects some minor imperfections and offers, at last, some functions the French manufacturer had promoted heavily when it announced the product.
October 19, 2006 - 11:22am
NTSB acting chairman Mark Rosenker said the FAA’s airport movement area safety system (AMASS) is not adequate to prevent serious runway collisions, citing several recent near-collisions at Boston and New York airports where AMASS allegedly did not perform. The Safety Board wants a system to provide immediate warnings of probable collisions directly to flight crews.
October 19, 2006 - 11:20am
“The MU-2B turboprop does not need yet another certification review,” according to AOPA. The issue stems from two recent accidents involving MU-2Bs at Denver Centennial Airport. That led to a demand from Colorado lawmakers that the FAA investigate the safety of the twin turboprop.
October 19, 2006 - 11:19am
The FAA extended to June 6 next year the compliance deadline for the new second-in-command type rating requirements for international operations. The rule, published August 4, had an original deadline of September 6.
