WASHINGTON, D.C. — If you live the average life span, from the moment you are born until your death your heart will beat a little more than 2 billion times. Many years ago when I worked for a newspaper, I drew a caricature of one of the columnists. He liked it and used it to […]
How did two Cessna 150 pilots cause worldwide hysteria?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — From January to mid-April of this year, Blackhawk helicopters patrolling the sky in the ADIZ around the Washington/Baltimore area have responded to more than 280 incursions. That averaged three a day. But one last month — when two persons in a Cessna 150 came close to the White House — generated worldwide […]
Debate continues on Capital Hill over user fees
WASHINGTON, D.C. — How to fund the FAA was the subject of still another hearing in the House of Representatives and the notion of user charges raised its ugly head higher, lifted by testimony from James May, president and CEO of the airlines’ Air Transport Association (ATA) and comments from several government witnesses. In his […]
Just say no
WASHINGTON, D.C.— A push to privatize the air traffic control system and/or put it on a fee basis is heating up, but two recent hearings in the House of Representatives indicate that members of the aviation subcommittee will have nothing to do with it. The subcommittee is looking into the modernization of ATC and its […]
Here we go again: Lawmakers introduce bill to open Reagan National to GA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It has been tried before, but here we go again: an attempt to get Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport reopened to general aviation. This time a bipartisan bill has been introduced in the U.S. House directing the Department of Transportation to allow general aviation access within six months. Except for a number […]
Test conducted to use lasers in defense of D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — At a time when laser beams aimed at aircraft are coming under scrutiny with Congress and others seeking methods to counter the potential danger, the military is testing a dual-based laser program to aim at aircraft that might penetrate the no-fly zone around the nation’s capital. This was revealed at a hearing […]
Better weather on the horizon, thanks for NASA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Thanks to NASA and a regional airline, pilots soon will have better weather information. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has teamed with Mesaba Airlines to equip dozens of Mesaba aircraft with the Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Report (TAMDAR) instrument. According to NASA, the TAMDAR sensor allows aircraft flying below 25,000 feet […]
FAA moves to continue limiting flights at O’Hare
Washington, D.C. — The Federal Aviation Administration plans to extend its temporary order limiting the number of flights at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Officials soon will issue a notice of proposed rule making to set a specific length of time these limits will be in place. The present order expires April 30, unless extended. So what […]
Wailing and gnashing of teeth over 2006 federal budget begins
WASHINGTON, D.C. — That loud explosion you heard earlier this month from here wasn’t a terrorist attack — it was reaction to the Fiscal Year 2006 budget submitted to Congress by President Bush. Howls from general aviation interests were loud, but only a small blip in the sound level generated by the politicians and lobbyists […]