President Biden signed the bipartisan Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act of 2024, May 16, which renews authority for the agency for the next five years and invests in air travel infrastructure nationwide. Regarding the passage of the bill, NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen said, “Both sides of the aisle, on both sides of…
This article’s title pertains to a somewhat common request that I have received over the years of my King Air training career: Help me find a fix for the autopilot. Even when no question has been asked, I find that quite often when I ride as an instructor or passenger in a King Air, I…
SmartSky, provider of inflight air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity for business aviation, announced D&J Aviation as a new sales and installation partner. D&J recently completed a first-article installation of the award-winning SmartSky LITE™ on a Beechcraft King Air C90 with a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) expected in the coming months. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, D&J is…
ForeFlight’s latest release – 16.4 – features a Reported Turbulence Map Layer, U.S. Lowest-Tilt Radar and more.
Utilizing data from Sentry and Sentry Plus devices, this new layer in the ForeFlight Mobile app displays the measured intensity of turbulence at multiple altitudes, making it easy to find the smoothest altitude along your route. Individual turbulence reports are displayed as colored dots on the Maps tab in ForeFlight: gray to indicate smooth air,…
The Radar (Lowest-Tilt) layer only depicts radar returns obtained at the lowest angle of the radar’s sweep, which better correspond to where precipitation is reaching the ground in the form of rain or snow. The new layer benefits from significantly reduced latency of six minutes or less and also provides enhanced spatial resolution, although the…
Roger Woolsey became an entrepreneur in the aviation world while still a teenager. That early success – and his knack for tackling problems that needed solutions – propelled him to broaden his reach, from a pilot-for-hire to an air carrier, an air medical service provider, an FBO owner, FBO franchisee and eventually an FBO franchisor.…
Mental Health FAA Committee Releases Recommendation Report The Mental Health & Aviation Medical Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) recently released their Recommendation Report. The ARC was formed in December 2023 to mitigate potential aviation safety risks due to mental health. The ARC provided a forum for the U.S. aviation community to discuss the barriers preventing…
A healthy 35-year-old man, who is also a pilot, was found to have high blood pressure at a recent physical. He has no symptoms, and his blood pressure is now controlled with medication. How does the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) deal with this issue? Your blood pressure measurement consists of two numbers – systolic and diastolic…
It’s going to do it anyway, right? Since the feathering springs and blade counterweights are always trying to move the propeller blades to high pitch – and the extreme of high pitch is the feathered position – and propeller oil pressure is what prevents the springs and counterweights from succeeding in their job, then as…