Filed under: Celebrity Justice Oral sex doesn't fly with the FAA. TMZ just found out helicopter pilot David Martz's pilot's license has been pulled.An FAA spokesperson tells us they issued an "emergency revocation" of his license. A statement from the agency says they reached the... Permalink...

I have always wanted a jetpack.  From one of my favorite West Wing exchanges (among many) in "The West Wing: The Warfare of Genghis Khan (#5.13)" (2004): Leo McGarry : My generation never got the future it was promised… Thirty-five years later, cars, air travel is exactly the sa...

It’s not as easy as it seems sometimes. My R44, parked on the side lawn at the Lake Pateros Inn in Washington State. Sadly, heat from my engine browned the grass. One of the benefits of operating a helicopter is that you can land it almost anywhere. One of the drawbacks of this, however, is th...

Or why I had to turn down a potentially lucrative charter flight. One of the things I’ve said again and again is that it’s nearly impossible to load a Robinson R44 helicopter out of CG. Nearly, but not completely. What is CG? For those of you unfamiliar with the term CG, it stands for ce...

And a check ride report. I realized this morning that I never did report on my check ride. When I mentioned that I was prepping for it, I promised a report the next day. That was a week ago. In my defense, I’ve been unreasonably busy. Here’s a rundown of how I spent the past seven days.:...

Filed under: Activism, Blogs, North America, United States, Airlines, News Three Phoenix-based flight attendants are in the unusual position of defending themselves from pilot-instigated litigation. Of course, they deserve it. I mean, what would you do when people responsible for passenger safety re...

Downgraded: The fates of whistleblowers who look out for passenger safety A cold day in Calgary, and three US Airways flight attendants notice ice building up on the wings. After much wrangling, they convince their flight crew to de-ice an aircraft. After landing safely, they report the incident to ...

Filed under: Airlines, Airports, News Because I live in Columbus, this story ended up on Wednesday night's local news. As I listened to the report, this is what I picked up. At 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, two guys heading for a Southwest flight at Port Columbus International Airport saw a pilot who seemed...

Yesterday, Representative Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) and three cosponsors introduced bipartisan legislation to ensure “arms-length” safety regulation of airlines by the FAA. The legislation comes as a result of the inspection debacle this spring. Full story....

When I think of high-powered, high-intensity, highly skilled jobs that one can choose to take, I think of air traffic controllers.  A lot has been said in recent memory regarding the stressfulness of blogging, and how it is quite possibly the most stressful occupation on the planet. By the numbers,...