Also: HeliTrak PMA, Aviation’s Next Big Fight, New KC Airport, Verifly, CFM Orders, Purdue Aviation, P&W Expansion

Some of the aviation industry’s worst fears appear to have been confirmed after a recent White House meeting with the executives of many of the country's major airlines. President Donald Trump was reportedly "extraordinarily positive" about the concept of spinning off Air Traffic Control to a private, non-profit corporation. That was the assessment of A4A president and CEO Nick Calio, who attended the meeting. The corporation would likely have strong representation from the

Takeoff Hold Lights (THL) The THL system is composed of in-pavement lighting in a double, longitudinal row of lights aligned either side of the runway centerline. The lights are focused toward the arrival end of the runway at the “line up and wait” point, and they extend for 1,500 feet in front of the holding aircraft. Illuminated red lights indicate to an aircraft in position for takeoff or rolling that it is unsafe to takeoff because the runway is occupied or about to be occupied by an aircraft or vehicle.

Aero Linx: Modification and Replacement Parts Association (MARPA) MARPA is the non-profit trade association that represents the Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) community. A PMA is an FAA design and production approval that verifies that the design of an aircraft part meets FAA safety regulations, and the fabrication inspection system meets FAA quality standards designed to assure that every part actually produced continues to meet the FAA-approved design. MARPA's mission is to promote uniform, outstanding standards within the FAA PMA industry. MARPA speaks with a single, powerful voice to the entire worldwide aviation community to elevate awareness and acceptance. MARPA works with government a

Aero-News Quote of the Day "Although our navigation algorithms can get even better, and we need to test them in many other parts of the world, this is a positive sign for Loon’s economic and operational viability. We’ll be able to put together a Loon network over a particular region in weeks not months, and it would be a lot less work to launch and manage. We’ll reduce the number of balloons we need and get greater value out of each one. All of this helps reduce the costs of operating a Loon-powered network, which is good news for the telco partners we’ll work with around the world to make Loon a reality, and critical given that cost has been one key factor keeping rel