EAA News

People with existing residential through-the-fence agreements at public-use airports will be allowed to continue with those agreements, provided they meet certain requirements, the FAA announced at a meeting in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, September 1.

Thinking about building an aircraft but not sure how to take the first step? Daniel Webster College's Aviation Department in Nashua, New Hampshire, will host SportAir's weekend workshop program on September 18-19 with a series of workshops aimed at teaching you the fundamentals of aircraft construction.

Last weekend's incident in which the Santa Barbara Police Department detained and handcuffed John and Martha King at gunpoint revealed a number of shortcomings within the system that John, commenting in his blog, said need to be fixed before a tragedy occurs.

Pilots believe that because they have entered their name, address, phone number, the number of people on board and so on into an IFR flight plan that the FAA controllers have all of that information.

You'll see more in the September issue of EAA Sport Aviation, but here's a preview.

The Environmental Protection Agency currently does not have sufficient data to make a determination on lead emissions from aircraft engines, according to GA Avgas Coalition comments submitted by EAA and other aviation and petroleum associations to the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday.

EAA's AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, one of the nation's premier aviation museums, has again earned accreditation from the American Association of Museums, recognizing its commitment to excellence and high professional standards.

The Environmental Protection Agency currently does not have sufficient data to make a determination on lead emissions from aircraft engines, according to GA Avgas Coalition comments submitted by EAA and other aviation and petroleum associations to the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday. The comments, submitted to the EPA's "Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking," were jointly signed by EAA and AOPA, GAMA, NBAA and NATA, as well as the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association (NPRA). It was the next step in what will be a multi-year process to replace 100 low-lead with an unleaded fuel for general aviation.

The airplane that prompted Santa Barbara, California, Police to detain John and Martha King of the King Schools on Saturday, August 28, was also misidentified as stolen in January 2009, prompting local police in Wichita, Kansas, to detain its pilot before things were straightened out, according to EAA contributor Max Trescott. The Kings were detained at gunpoint Saturday by police and handcuffed when the airplane in which they had arrived at Santa Barbara Airport, a Cessna Skyhawk (172S) leased from Cessna Aircraft, was identified as a stolen airplane because it had the same registration number (N-50545) as a C-150 reported stolen in eight years ago from McKinney, Texas.

A high-speed police chase in Dallas last week (August 19) spilled onto the active runways and taxiways of Dallas's famed Love Field when carjacking suspect Michael Lawrence Brown rammed an airport fence in a stolen truck. The chase caused at least one go-around and forced the temporary closure of both parallel runways (13-31) at Love in the middle of the afternoon rush at this active airline and general aviation airport.

EAA's AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, one of the nation's premier aviation museums, has again earned accreditation from the American Association of Museums, recognizing its commitment to excellence and high professional standards. The latest approval marks the third consecutive time the AirVenture Museum has earned the AAM's "seal of approval." The EAA facility was the first aviation museum in the U.S. to earn accreditation in 1988, and one of fewer than 10 aviation museums in the nation to hold the rating.

If you are a sport pilot and fly a special light-sport aircraft (S-LSA) or experimental light-sport aircraft (E-LSA) with a top speed of 87 knots or less, the FAA requires you to receive training and an endorsement to fly. EAA Radio's Fareed Guyot talked with EAA Government Advocacy Specialist David Oord about this Catch-22 situation where the FAA has made a big push to increase transition training for Experimentals but has not provided a regulatory means to accomplish it. Listen to the interview

Giant-scale radio controlled (RC) model aircraft will take to the skies normally occupied by their much-larger brethren during the inaugural "Big Birds Over EAA" on Saturday, September 11, at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh. The free event runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. between the Main Gate and AeroShell Square on the EAA AirVenture grounds. Concessions will be available and EAA AirVenture Museum admission will be free all day on Saturday, September 11.

The Navy says "a software issue" caused it to lose contact with one of its MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV helicopters for about 20 minutes during the afternoon of August 2, 2010, allowing the pilot-less drone aircraft to fly itself 23 miles into the restricted airspace surrounding Washington, D.C., according to a story first reported by The New York Times this week. The aircraft, manufactured by Northrop Grumman, measures nearly 24 ft long, 9 ft high and has a gross weight of 3,150 lbs.

The FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking this week on an airworthiness directive (AD) for Diamond Aircraft DA 40 and DA 40F airplanes to address recurring problems of their rear passenger doors falling off in flight. According to the NPRM, the proposed AD would "change the emergency open doors procedure by incorporation of a temporary revision into the FAA-approved airplane flight manual for all airplanes." The AD would also require replacing the passenger door retaining bracket with an improved design for certain airplanes.

For Arnold Ebneter, EAA 450548, designing and building his own airplane was a lifelong dream. First conceived with a slide rule in the 1950s while attending Texas A and M University, he completed the project, the E-1, with CAD and flight simulator programs in 2005. A native of Portage, Indiana, Ebneter, 82, lives in Woodinville, Washington. He recently flew E-1 from Paine Field, Everett, Washington, to Fredericksburg, Virginia, to set an unofficial record for the longest nonstop flight in a small aircraft (less than 500 kilograms).

No matter where you turn, there is a story to be told at AirVenture. Thousands were chronicled during the 2010 event by all sorts of media outlets: newspapers, TV, radio, blogs, podcasts, and others.

Future professional pilots or those considering another career in aviation can join EAA in the "Focus On The Future" session held in conjunction with the FltOps.com Global Pilot Career Conference and Job Fair on Saturday, August 28, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Thinking about building an aircraft but not sure how to take the first step? EAA's SportAir Workshop will hold a "Discover Aircraft Building" workshop next weekend, August 28-29, hosted by EAA Chapter 1114 in Apex, North Carolina.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of Joe Kittinger, Jr.'s record-setting parachute jump from 102,800 feet, which took place on August 16, 1960.