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All News

August 13, 2022

ALPA: New FAA Data Shows Pilots Plentiful

ALPA Refutes Pilot Shortage Narrative

Amidst deafening caterwauling to the contrary, ALPA—the world’s largest pilot union—has consistently and confidently refuted claims that the airline industry is in the incipient throes of death by pilot shortage. On 11 August 2022, ALPA bolstered its position by citing data that establishes convincingly—if not incontrovertibly—that the ongoing racket being made about pilot shortages is more so an attempt by airlines to divert attention from their shabby performance and chronic mismanagement than it is an assertion of fact.

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USAF and Aptima to Jointly develop eVTOL Training Curricula

Because Knowledge—in the Presence of a Decent Battery—is Power

Among the most immediate challenges with which global aviation agencies are faced is the development of regulatory and training infrastructure germane to the emergent Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry. Manned and unmanned, electric and hybrid-electric, vertical takeoff and landing vehicles will soon transform the manners in which commerce is conducted, and products are delivered. Who will operate the novel vehicles with which Earth’s skies will soon be replete? How will they be trained, and by whom?    

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Philippines Cancels Russian Helicopter Deal

Near-Peer Pressure

Philippine National Defense Department spokesman Arsenio Andolong put forth in a statement disseminated by the Philippines’ national news agency that his nation is currently formalizing the termination of the 12.7-billion pesos ($228-million) contract with Russia’s Sovtechnoexport. Mr. Andolong stated also that efforts were underway to retrieve a $48.2-million down-payment his government made on the helicopters in January 2022.

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Airborne 08.05.22: Switchblade Ready To Fly?, AT-802U Selected, AG Certification

Also: Dunbar Named SnF Airshow Director, Aircraft Seat Size Regs, NTSB Updates Definition, SmartSky

A flying car 14-years in the making has received FAA approval. Mind you; first flight approval and airworthiness  certification are markedly different states of being. Approval, conversely, indicates only that the FAA has deemed an aircraft concept—in this instance, Samson Sky’s Switchblade—sufficiently developed for flight-testing. In terrestrial applications, the Switchblade is a three-wheeled vehicle after the fashion of the 1970s Robin Reliant. It accommodates two occupants in a side-by-side, enclosed cockpit with fifty-pounds

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Airborne 08.04.22: Snowbird Incident, SnF Innovation Preview, Comp Air

Also: VerdeGo Aero, Airbus 1st Half/22, Space Perspective, Emirates Reduces Service

On Tuesday, 02 August 2022, a Snowbirds aircraft suffered what Canadian military officials are calling a hard landing while departing North Peace Regional Airport (CYXJ) in Fort St. John, British Columbia. The aircraft’s pilot is said to have escaped serious injury. Emergency crews from the North Peace Regional Airport Fire Department converged on a hay-field southeast of the departure end of CYXJ’s Runway-11. The City of Fort St. John Fire Department reportedly arrived to find the fire resultant of the incident already extinguished. One of Aviation's m

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Methuseleh... B-52H To Be Upgraded—Again

Youth Springs Eternal—If The Dollars Don’t Run Out

Now comes the next incarnation of the venerable Stratofortress, which depending on how pedantic Air Force brass inclines to wax, will be known as either the B-52J or B-52K. Col. Louis Ruscetta, senior materiel leader for the B-52 renovation program, asserts the new engines, engine pylons, avionics, and slick, fighter-style radar into which the USAF is fixing to slip the old girl represent the most ambitious and costly modification in the B-52’s long and glorious history.

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FAA Denies Culpability in Flight Delays and Cancellations

Agency Downplays ATC Understaffing

In a recent speech, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) president Rich Santa alleged the FAA is failing to hire new controllers at a rate commensurate with existing need. The FAA refuted Mr. Santa’s position, however, maintaining its hiring goals are in line with target figures. In a statement to the press, the agency averred: "The FAA annually hires new air traffic controllers, and is on target to meet our hiring goal this year, and is reducing the backlog of training caused by COVID-19.”

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Airborne 08.05.22: Switchblade Ready To Fly?, AT-802U Selected, AG Certification

Also: Dunbar Named SnF Airshow Director, Aircraft Seat Size Regs, NTSB Updates Definition, SmartSky

A flying car 14-years in the making has received FAA approval. Mind you; first flight approval and airworthiness  certification are markedly different states of being. Approval, conversely, indicates only that the FAA has deemed an aircraft concept—in this instance, Samson Sky’s Switchblade—sufficiently developed for flight-testing. In terrestrial applications, the Switchblade is a three-wheeled vehicle after the fashion of the 1970s Robin Reliant. It accommodates two occupants in a side-by-side, enclosed cockpit with fifty-pounds

Read More

Airborne 08.04.22: Snowbird Incident, SnF Innovation Preview, Comp Air

Also: VerdeGo Aero, Airbus 1st Half/22, Space Perspective, Emirates Reduces Service

On Tuesday, 02 August 2022, a Snowbirds aircraft suffered what Canadian military officials are calling a hard landing while departing North Peace Regional Airport (CYXJ) in Fort St. John, British Columbia. The aircraft’s pilot is said to have escaped serious injury. Emergency crews from the North Peace Regional Airport Fire Department converged on a hay-field southeast of the departure end of CYXJ’s Runway-11. The City of Fort St. John Fire Department reportedly arrived to find the fire resultant of the incident already extinguished. One of Aviation's m

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Commaris Announces Partnership with CYTTA

Seekers of Clarity

In keeping with the precept that a sentry’s eyes ought be as good as his legs, Commaris, a Massachusetts-based builder of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), has partnered with Cytta Corp., an outfit specializing in video compression and real-time streaming. The partnership seeks to outfit Commaris’s proven and popular SEEKER UAV with Cytta’s Incident Global Area Network (IGAN) command system and SUPR video compression technology—thereby giving rise to a tough, agile, sharp-eyed drone capable of dramatically improving the situational awareness and operational efficacy of first responders worldwide.

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Classic Aero-TV: Bringing History Alive - The Antique Aircraft Association

From 2009 (YouTube Version): Organization’s Annual Fly-In Makes ‘Golden Age’ Come Alive for Enthusiasts

Founded in August of 1953 by Robert L. Taylor, the Antique Aircraft Association is the world’s oldest organization specifically devoted to antique and classic aircraft. Committed to “keep the antiques flying,” the AAA has dedicated its fifty-six years to the preservation of this “Golden Age of Aviation.” AAA members have access to the organization’s vast historical library, as well as its large assortment of spare engine and aircraft parts available to assist in restoration projects.

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NTSB Prelim: Air Tractor Inc AT-502A

Portions Of The Left Wing Were Scattered Around The Powerlines And To The North Of The Wreckage

On July 30, 2022, about 1300 central daylight time, an Air Tractor AT-502A airplane, N501MW, was destroyed when was involved in an accident near Ute, Iowa. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was operated under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 137 as an aerial application flight. There are no known witnesses to the accident. The airplane wreckage came to rest on a paved road, upright, facing east. The field that the pilot was spraying was to the east of the accident site and was bordered on three sides by power lines.

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ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (08.13.22)

Aero Linx: The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) is the professional association and registered trade union established to represent the interests of all UK pilots. We represent over 10,000 pilots and are recognised in 23 different companies; that’s over 85% of all commercial pilots flying in the UK. The association holds the largest collective resource of commercial pilot qualification and experience in the UK.

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ANN's Daily Aero-Term (08.13.22): SQUAWK (Mode, Code, Function)

SQUAWK (Mode, Code, Function) Used by ATC to instruct a pilot to activate the aircraft transponder and ADS−B Out with altitude reporting enabled, or (military) to activate only specific modes, codes, or functions. Examples: “Squawk five seven zero seven;” “Squawk three/alpha, two one zero five.”

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Aero-News: Quote of the Day (08.13.22)

"In 2011, there were over 11,750 Certified Professional Controllers and additional trainees yielding over 15,000 total controllers on board at the FAA. By the beginning of 2022, there were more than one-thousand fewer fully-certified controllers, and 1,500 fewer total controllers on board, a number that has declined for at least the past 11-years." Source: National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) president Rich Santa in a statement alleging the FAA is failing to hire new controllers at a rate commensurate with existing need.

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