There’s always a marriage of sorts between pilots and Air Traffic Control, and final vows are about to be exchanged for the FAA’s NextGen Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The proposal mandates ADS-B equipment in all aircraft by 2020, but the deadline for comments is just two weeks away, so now is the time for … Read more
There’s hardly a person in America that doesn’t know that on 9/11, Flight 93 didn’t achieve its target of crashing into the White House or the Capitol. Instead, a group of brave passengers seized the moment and took destiny into their own hands. These brave people altered the course of history and kept a national … Read more
Senator Bill Nelson’s recent comment that "User fees are dead" was surely well received by the 400 constituents who heard him speak recently in Ft. Lauderdale. Coming from such a credible source–the Senator sits on the aviation subcommittee of the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Technology Committee–this undoubtedly cheered the crowd as well it should. Phil … Read more
It’s time for the FAA to set an aggressive goal, comparable to the ones they set for airliners, for reducing the general aviation fatal accident rate. Without one, senseless accidents will continue, needless lives will be lost, and potential new pilots will be scared away.
While the general aviation accident picture is hazy, commercial aviation results are clear with unlimited visibility. Ten years ago, when the FAA set a goal to reduce the rate of commercial aviation fatalities by 80% by the year 2007, few thought it was possible. In fact, the goal wasn’t reached, but to the surprise of many however, they did reduce the commercial aviation fatality rate by more than 60%.
On October 21, I was a guest on Steve Finnie’s aviation radio show broadcast on KNTS, 1220 AM. My primary purpose in going on the show was to highlight some of the issues currently facing general aviation. In particular, I wanted to talk about the user fees being proposed in Senate bill 1300 and what listeners can do about it. I also wanted to highlight the need to grow the pilot population in the U.S.