When a Lancair IV-P lost power, began leaking oil over the windscreen and eventually landed on a Florida beach, the subsequent crash set off a surprising chain of events. The pilot’s calm under fire has been overshadowed by the freakish outcome of the forced landing; a runner on the beach was struck and fatally injured [...]

This just in from the Through the Fence Organization. *** The “Community Airport Access and Protection Act of 2010” was introduced yesterday to Congress by the Honorable Sam Graves (R MO) and Honorable Leonard Boswell (R IA) to correct the FAA’s recent policy to prohibit “through the fence” access at any airport receiving Airport Improvement [...]

All paper Airman Certificates will expire on March 31, 2010, except for some temporary certificates and student pilot certificates. Otherwise, those who hold paper certificates will not be able to legally exercise the privileges of those certificates after March 31.

UPDATE, Monday November 9, 2009: Zenith has published the Safety Alert for the CH 601XL and CH 650 aircraft. On Saturday November 7, the FAA published a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin warning pilots and builders of CH601XL and CH650 aircraft to look for and adhere to a Zenith safety directive that should be published shortly. [...]

After a lengthy wait and more than a bit of hand-wringing on the part of builders and kit manufacturers, the FAA has finally published Advisory Circular 20-27G, which forms the approval basis for Experimental/Amateur-Built aircraft. In the preamble, the FAA says that, “This AC is not mandatory and does not constitute a regulation. This AC [...]

The FAA has published the final report from the Amateur-Built Aircraft Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) that was re-formed in 2008 to take another shot at the advisory material controlling Experimental/Amateur-Built aircraft. Signed in early August by the FAA’s Frank Paskiewicz and midmonth by the EAA’s Earl Lawrence and Van’s Aircraft founder Dick VanGrunsven, the report [...]

Offering a 30-day comment period, the FAA has announced its much anticipated Official Notice of proposed guidance pertaining to the regulation of Experimental/Amateur-Built aircraft. Read the FAA’s draft here. Read EAA’s Initial Overview of the policy here. Return to KITPLANES