VFR, IFR, and NPCs

Among the bigger surprises sprung during Microsoft's 2023 Xbox Games Showcase was the news that Asobo Studio is hard at work on a wholly new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator. Predating Windows by three-years, Flight Simulator is Microsoft’s longest-running software product line and one of the longest-running PC video game series of all time.

Mass Fleet Divestments Threaten Business Aviation

Aviation consultancies are predicting with increasing accord that pre-owned business jet inventories will, in the near-term, continue to rise while transactions and flight activity both fall. With worrying consistency, firms the likes of ALTEA, Essex, and Oliver Wyman portend ever-increasing numbers of pre-owned business jets coming to market over the next 12-months.

The World On Time—If Not the Pilot Contract

On 12 June 2023, ALPA announced the FedEx Master Executive Council (MEC), the governing body of the union’s FedEx unit, had voted to approve a tentative contract agreement reached on 30 May with FedEx management. Next along the long and tortuous road to an equitable labor contract is a membership ratification ballot that will open 05 July and close 24 July 2023. If ratified, the new agreement would provide FedEx pilots major pension improvements with alternative pension options, significant hourly pay-rate increases, an amendable period recovery payment, and other improvements to quality of life.

Also: FAA Reauthorization Bill, B-52 Upgrades, USAF Pilot Shortage, Qantas Retiring A380s

DOT Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg has been selected to serve as acting FAA administrator, replacing the eminently qualified Billy Nolen, who announced his intention to step down earlier this year. Kathryn “Katie” Thomson will serve as the FAA’s deputy administrator, replacing Brad Mims, who is assuming a new, senior role at the DOT as head of the agency’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. In the first week of June, low visibility instantiated by smoke from wildfires in the Canadian Province of Quebec occasioned flight de

Very Cool and Highly Collectable

An offshoot of MotoArt, the first and only concern to handcraft one-of-a-kind articles of furniture from the salvaged structures and components of decommissioned aircraft, PlaneTags is an ever-broadening line of aviation mementos fashioned—hand-cut, stamped, shaped, and individually etched—from the skins of retired aircraft. Cognizant of the innumerable stories preserved figuratively and literally throughout the forlorn carcasses of once-proud aircraft relegated to the world’s boneyards, PlaneTags’s personnel scour the globe in perpetuity, seeking out and salvaging vintage military and commercial aircraft

ISR UAV Trialed alongside Indo-Pacific Command

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems earned some bragging rights for its SeaGuardian's performance at the recent NORTHERN EDGE 2023 exercise, where flights brought out the full range of capabilities for communication, detection, networking, and targeting. The training exercise took place in the Gulf of Alaska to further hone forces under the US Indo-Pacific Command (IPACOM) for their ability to react to crises throughout the greater Asian Pacific region.

All Good Things …

The National Aeronautic Association (NAA) announced on 09 June 2023 that Greg Principato, the organization’s president and CEO, will step down from the positions he so sagely and competently filled since 2016.

National Aviation Hall of Fame Readies for its Next 60 Years

The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF)—a Dayton, Ohio-based institution founded to inspire appreciation of the United States’ extraordinary aviation heritage—announced on 05 June 2023 that Aimee Maruyama had been named the organization’s new president and CEO. Following a competitive national search conducted by the NAHF's board of trustees and facilitated by executive research and recruitment firm Korn Ferry, Ms. Maruyama emerged as the top candidate for the job.

Aviation Films Through the Ages

On 08 June, the EAA announced the compendium of films to be presented at the much-loved Fly-In Theater during AirVenture 2023. Over the last 15-years, the Fly-In Theater has attained the stature of tradition among AirVenture attendees. Films are shown nightly on a five-story-high movie screen and introduced by a diverse group of luminaries ranging from aviation legends to Hollywood superstars.

Newer High-Resolution Mapping and Tracking Coming to a Stratofortress Near You

Boeing has received the first aircraft for modification under the Radar Modernization Program (RMP). The RMP project will provide B-52 pilots with more “fighter-like” radar capabilities, granting the aged bomber a level of navigation accuracy, targeting and tracking seen in aircraft half, a third, or even a fifth of its age. The improved radar suite will serve multiple functions, with high-resolution mapping and terrain analysis enhancing flight safety for every flight going forward.

Also: AAL Parks Jets, Boeing Owns Wisk, AEA 1Q/23, CubCrafters Stock Increase

Boeing is standing down from a planned 21 July launch of its Starliner. Boeing vice-president Mark Nappi stated Boeing personnel had spent the holiday investigating issues and elected to delay the test-flight which would have seen NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore conveyed to the ISS. A series of emails reportedly written by RAF pilot selection board members has graphically instantiated the service’s worrying and worsening proclivity to prioritize inclusivity over excellence. Written between 2020 and 2021 and leaked to a legacy Commonwealth news outlet, subject e

Also: AAL Parks Jets, Boeing Owns Wisk, AEA 1Q/23, CubCrafters Stock Increase

Boeing is standing down from a planned 21 July launch of its Starliner. Boeing vice-president Mark Nappi stated Boeing personnel had spent the holiday investigating issues and elected to delay the test-flight which would have seen NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore conveyed to the ISS. A series of emails reportedly written by RAF pilot selection board members has graphically instantiated the service’s worrying and worsening proclivity to prioritize inclusivity over excellence. Written between 2020 and 2021 and leaked to a legacy Commonwealth news outlet, subject e

Fools Rush In …

The NTSB has released its final report on a February 2021 accident in which a 2008-vintage, Dassault Falcon 900EX EASy, registration N823RC, was substantially damaged during a runway excursion event secondary to an aborted takeoff from San Diego, California’s Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport (MYF). Neither the two pilots, the single flight attendant, nor the two passengers aboard the Part 91 personal flight sustained injuries.Excepting the factory-fitted Honeywell/Dassault EASy avionics suite with which the Falcon 900EX EASy is equipped, the model is identical to Dassault’s Falcon 900EX.

Aero Linx: The Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) The Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA) is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and scientific purposes. It is the largest, most-representative professional membership organization in the fields of aerospace medicine and human performance.

Resolution Advisory A display indication given to the pilot by the Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) recommending a maneuver to increase vertical separation relative to an intruding aircraft. Positive, negative, and vertical speed limit (VSL) advisories constitute the resolution advisories. A resolution advisory is also classified as corrective or preventive.

“We took a membership-driven approach to these negotiations, with polling and direct feedback throughout the process. We negotiated an industry-leading contract and achieved improvements contract-wide. We look forward to presenting the agreement to our pilots for consideration. The improvements to our retirement stand out. Not only did we accomplish major improvements to the existing pension benefit—improvements that we sought and management bitterly resisted in past negotiations—but we also crafted a new pension plan that sheds the negative funding aspects of our current plan. The new plan is completely sustainable and ensures that the costs of the plan charged to the company match the value that goes to the pilots. It’s a tremendous accomplishment.&rdqu