Aviation Interest

Federal border security agents have sharply reduced intercepts of general aviation aircraft, following complaints by pilots that excessive police action at small airports is restricting the freedom to fly.

An official with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Air and Marine Operations told NPR his agency has heard pilots’ grievances and the program is being altered so as not to needlessly affront law-abiding pilots.

Last week news organizations gleefully trumpeted the near collision of two airliners. Their coverage was spotty at best, with few, if any, first hand accounts from anyone with actual knowledge of the event, other than the description of a passenger. Fortunately for editors and news producers who are too busy or disinterested to assign actual…

LIVERMORE, Calif.  A small plane has made an emergency landing at the Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore.

One taken into custody after emergency landing

There have been no reports of injuries, but witnesses tell ABC7 News they saw the pilot taken away in handcuffs and that security approached that plane with guns drawn (later returned to the plane to collect personal belongings).

LOS ANGELES — ICON Aircraft will relocate to the City of Vacaville in Northern California, located approximately 50 miles northeast of San Francisco. Beginning in the first quarter of 2015, the company will begin operating in a 140,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the Vacaville airport, also known as the Nut Tree Airport. ICON intends to consolidate…

FLIGHT ADVISORY GPS Interference Testing NSAWC 14 – 03 13-22 May 2014 Mina, NV. Additional information available via download at: https://www.faasafety.gov/files/notices/2014/May/NSAWC_14-03_GPS_Flight_Advisory.pdf

Regular readers of this column may notice a small change to the bio blurb that runs below. It’s shorter. The line about being the founder and president of the Polk Aviation Alliance has been removed, because although I remain the founder, I am no longer the president. I’ve resigned. My local newspaper, which seems to…

Hands Off! Could a simple change to your flying style help save your life? Veteran flight instructor Gene Hudson thinks it just might. In his article on page 13 in the latest edition of FAA Safety Briefing (http://www.faa.gov/news/safety_briefing/) he suggests a methodology for avoiding unintentional stall through the proper use of trim. To learn more…

Perhaps it has occurred to you. as it has to me, aviation attracts high achievers like a moth to a flame. Ours is not the domain of the weak or timid. Similarly it’s not an exclusive outpost for rich, old, white guys who split their time between the golf course, the yacht club, the airport,…

The FAA is asking for help on the thirty-sixth annual General Aviation and Part 135 Activity Survey covering calendar year 2013. The annual survey serves as the only source of information on the GA fleet, the number of hours flown, and the ways people use GA aircraft.

The data will be used to determine funding for infrastructure and service needs, assess the impact of regulatory changes, and measure aviation safety. It also will be used to calculate fatal accident rates for GA and Part 135 aircraft.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Officials at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) say they welcome a step taken by the FAA to open a dialogue with the aviation industry about the agency’s pilot-screening proposal for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The FAA recently circulated draft revisions of its proposal as a mechanism to engage industry stakeholders on…