General aviation news archive for September 2013

The CAA has announced details of a series of seminars designed to inform flight training schools of the transition process they will need to follow to achieve 'Approved Training Organisation' status.

As part of a process to improve the way it handles official transactions, the CAA is now accepting more applications online, including secure online payments. Pilots, aircraft maintenance engineers and air traffic personnel can now apply for a replacement licence or certificate online.

The CAA has revealed that it will conduct a wide-ranging inquiry following an aircraft incident last month in which four people died when a Super Puma crashed off Shetland -- but the British Airline Pilots’ Association says this is "too little, too late".

The CAA's consultation into the de-regulation of single seat microlight aircraft is now live, and responses can be made online. The CAA is proposing to extend the present single seat deregulated (SSDR) category of microlight aeroplanes, introduced in 2007, to include all single seat microlight aeroplanes.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) today reminded holders of ‘national’ pilot licences of the need to convert to a European equivalent by 8 April 2014 to maintain their current flying privileges. The deadline affects all commercial and private pilots holding a valid non-JAR licence (sometimes also referred to as a CAA licence), which would have been issued before January 2000.

In conjunction with key representatives from the GA pilot training community, the CAA has started work on a new training syllabus for private pilots. The project aims to help ensure future pilots are better prepared for flying safely in the UK.

Solar Impulse has teamed up with Silicon Valley-based internet company Google in a formal partnership that will help bring the aircraft closer to its ultimate goal of flying around the world using only solar energy, in 2015.

Leeds Bradford International-based aviation centre Multiflight has bought three Piper PA-28 161 Diesel aircraft with glass cockpits, boosting the number of Piper PA-28 aircraft in its fleet of training and self-fly hire aircraft from two to five.

The 1968 Jodel used in July 2012 in a human rights campaign stunt over Belarus has been put up for sale on eBay. The single engine aircraft illegally crossed the border into Belarus and -- while it flew over the capital, Minsk -- dropped hundreds of teddy bears on parachutes, each holding signs demanding freedom of speech.

A ‘listening out squawk’ covering Farnborough Airport is to be made permanent, the CAA confirmed today. The code was originally created as a short term measure to assist Farnborough LARS air traffic controllers during the London 2012 Olympics. It proved so successful, however, that it remained in place on a trial basis after the Games finished. The squawk will become permanent on 14 November 2013 and will become the tenth such code in operation in the UK.

Cessna has been celebrating after the first production unit of its newest business jet, the Citation M2, took its maiden flight out of the company’s facility in Independence, Kansas.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has published a new complaints policy, clearly setting out the process for stakeholders to follow to raise concerns about the services the aviation regulator provides, the conduct of its staff, or to complain about any problems they encounter with its work.

Proviation has been appointed as UK agent for the Belite range of aircraft instruments. Designed and made in the USA, Belite produces a low-cost range of instruments for home-built aircraft. The Belite range covers air speed indicators, fuel gauges, turn co-ordinators, CHT gauges, and now, multifunction instrument panels.

The CAA has announced that the Radio Mandatory Zone (RMZ) introduced at Blackpool Airport has been withdrawn, more than three weeks ahead of schedule.