Briefs

Date: 8 July 2008 To: House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure From: Gabriel D. Bruno Subject: Rebuilding the FAA The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure under Rep. [James] Oberstar’s [D-MN] leadership has created a rare window of...

Congress has stepped in and taken action to upgrade standards by which emergency medical service (EMS) helicopters are operated. The Congressional legislation goes a long way toward ending the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shilly-shallying over National...

When the airliner pulled up to the gate, the first indication that something was amiss came from a shock felt by the crew that ran through the plane at the same instant that a sign on the terminal wall illuminated the message “STOP.” As soon as the engines shut down,...

The pilots heard a “clunk,” then the flight deck became very dark as the British Airways (BA) A319 was approaching 20,000 feet during climb after departure from London’s Heathrow Airport in October 2005 with 82 passengers and crew aboard. Most of the affected systems...

One suspects that AOPA’s resistance to restarting NAOMS, a resistance apparently shared by the FAA, may stem from apprehension. If the surveys already conducted reflect great discomfort about safety among airline pilots, a comprehensive approach to compile data from...

Former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said the next goal regarding safety is to further reduce the number of fatalities. There are a few considerations, however, to what she is saying. At the 6 September town hall meeting with FAA employees, Blakey said: “We’ll be...

Recall the expressions of concern about the Multi-crew Pilot License (MPL) program voiced at the recent Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) safety forum (see Air Accident Digest, 4 September 2007, p. 20-23, “Bowing To The Inevitable”). Some pilots disparagingly refer...

“Whenever human beings and ozone are simultaneously present, one anticipates production of acetone,” declares a study in the September 2007 issue of Environmental Science & Technology. Acetone is just one of the witches’ brew of products created by the interaction...

The two Northwest Airline pilots who overflew their Minneapolis destination 21 October by more than 100 miles face emergency revocation of their Air Transport Pilot (ATP) licenses and likely termination by the airline. Pilot inattention – in this case aggravated by...

The smoldering wreckage in Belle Harbor, a residential area in New York City, casts a shadow to this day. The tailfin of an Airbus A300-600, operated as Flight 587 by American Airlines, separated in flight, causing the pilots to lose control. The separated tailfin...