The French union of airline pilots, SNPL France ALPA, is now defending two pilots who were in the cockpit of a Falcon 50 involved in a major drug bust in the Dominican Republic. Bruno Odos and Pascal Fauret, jailed in Higüey for 77 days and counting, are “collateral damage,” the union said in a statement released today.
Military aviation occupations
May 1, 2013 - 6:00am
An old French proverb reminds us “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” For international flight departments, planning a trip outside the U.S. means focusing on many of the same topics crews consider for a flight inside the U.S.: weather, navigation, customs and immigration, air traffic contr
October 31, 2012 - 12:50pm
Opening to a packed room at the NBAA Convention on Halloween eve is a feat in itself; to keep attendees’ attention for a full hour on such a busy day takes some meat. Sheryl Barden, president and CEO of Aviation Personnel International (API), moderated a panel of industry leaders who postulated their own theories for why we are currently forced to recruit aggressively to increase the pool of talented people from which to choose our next generation of aviators and aviation support staff throughout the world.
August 3, 2012 - 3:20am
Helivision sprang from the heart of Nascar country–Concord, N.C.–mainly to provide helicopter aerial camera platforms for race coverage. That was 18 years ago. Motor sports is still a large part of the company’s business, accounting for many of its flight hours between February and November and constantly keeping its two camera helicopters, hauling trucks and crews on the road. “In June 2011 I think I was home all of two days,” says pilot Kevin Knotts, whose father, Buddy, founded and still runs the company today. “Our families are used to it. It is what we do.”
July 5, 2012 - 2:55am
Rod Rakic and Adam Fast are tackling one of the unique challenges facing the general aviation industry: how to get pilots to fly more. Rising fuel prices and the many obstacles that discourage pilots from flying have caused large reductions in flying time, which are reflected in low new aircraft delivery numbers, declining fuel sales and low used aircraft prices. “Our challenge is how do we keep people flying longer and more,” Rakic explained.
May 4, 2012 - 1:28pm
Both of the FAA signature initiatives that arose out of the crash of a regional turboprop in Buffalo, N.Y., more than three years ago are still receiving some pushback from various quarters. On the subject of fatigue, almost everyone favors more rest for flight crews, and who can argu
May 1, 2012 - 2:25am
RAA vice president Scott Foose knows the “granularities” of the various issues with which the association grapples every day as well as anyone in the industry. A 9,100-hour, ATP-rated pilot and a former senior manager in Allegheny Airlines’ flight operations and safety department, the RAA veteran also brings as balanced a perspective as one could find on the merits and shortcomings of some of the rulemaking stemming from H.R. 5900, the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010.
April 23, 2012 - 7:12pm
“Five years ago we passed the point where automation was there to back up pilots,” said Flight Safety Foundation CEO Bill Voss at last week’s Flight Safety Foundation Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar in San Antonio.
May 1, 2011 - 9:30am
In yet another case of local interpretation of federal regulations, at the Long Beach, Calif., Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) FAA inspectors have decided that contract pilots cannot fly for different Part 135 operators without undergoing full initial training on each aircraft that they fly.
May 10, 2010 - 5:38am
College majors and career opportunities don’t always match up. Students have always majored in subjects that have few job prospects. Take philosophy, for example. Every year students major in philosophy, yet I can’t recall ever seeing a help wanted ad for a philosopher.
