Latest from Gordon Gilbert

Advisory circulars provide guidance for business aircraft operators in meeting the latest civil aviation regulatory amendments.

Approval marks an extension to ExecuJet’s maintenance capabilities already in place for the Embraer ERJ-135/145, Legacy 600/650 and Phenom 100.

Approved operators may now use Rectrix BED as their departure point for non-stop flights to DCA.

The company will expand its capacity later this year with a new 43,000-sq-ft MRO facility in Macau and a third 41,500-sq-ft hangar in Singapore.

Miami is the latest ATC facility to go on line with digital communications, bringing to 55 the number of airport towers operating with Data Comm.

Even though rule will be in effect individual state approvals must be given before turbine single operations in instrument conditions can actually begin.

There were 406 total accidents (jets and turboprops) between 2010 and 2016.

In one instance, an ADS-B OUT system ground test created a false airborne target that generated a TCAS resolution advisory on an airliner on approach.

Deadlines for the new requirements begin in 2018.

GE said that operating its helicopter from Signature Flight Support at Boston Logan International Airport “has been positive.”

Rule allows pilots of airplanes with enhanced flight vision systems to fly certain IFR approaches all the way to landing “in lieu of natural vision”

The city said it will own the helipad, not use federal funding to build it, determine who can and cannot use the pad and what the user fees will be.

Hydrocodone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone and oxycodone would be added to the FAA’s urine testing requirements for commercial pilots and aircraft mechanics.

The NTSB issued an urgent recommendation concerning unsafe wiring on Piper PA-31T Cheyennes that might lead to arcing and fires.

Several major rulemaking actions are scheduled to be adopted in 2017 that will affect general and business aviation operations in the U.S. and abroad.

According to preliminary statistics researched by AIN, there were 12 accidents of U.S.-registered business jets last year versus 20 in 2015.

The rule requires changes be made to some requirements under Parts 91 and 135 to align pilot operating rules with the new Part 23 airplane rules.

The agency noted that pilots are inadvertently changing selections of concentrically centered knobs with some regularity.

ICAO had recommended that all turbine airplanes in excess of 12,500 pounds mtow be equipped with a wind shear warning system.

The mandate applies to newly manufactured, commercially-operated turbine planes weighing less than 12,500 pounds.

List includes CVR recording protection, required communications and navigation performance and safety management data, among others.

The pilot and one passenger sustained minor injuries and five passengers were uninjured in the mishap.

German investogators said the pilot-in-command decided to “conduct the VFR approach even though he was aware of prevailing [IMC in fog] at the airport."

Initial estimates project as many as 24 operations a day.

Errors by ATC resulted in the pilots’ inability to take action to avoid the collisions, the NTSB said.

The specific objectives of this proposal are to ensure compliance with the ICAO standards and recommended practices.

City and state leaders offered to help build a helipad as part of the incentives to lure GE from its longtime headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut.

During the time leading up to the collision, the local controller was handling nine aircraft.

The initial phase of the reduced lateral separation minimums from 50 nm to 25 nm in the North Atlantic Tracks was introduced in December last year.

Weather at the time of the accident “was near or in exceedance of the aircraft’s maximum tailwind and crosswind component for landing.”