Aviation Issues: Recent Aviation News

Aviation Issues: Recent Aviation News

Senate Passes FAA Reauthorization Bill, While House Still Reviewing

On April 19, 2016, the U.S. Senate passed Bill H.R. 636 to reauthorize funding and programs for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The bill, which passed with significant bipartisan support, includes measures highly supported by the aviation community for streamlining the certification process for aviation technologies, raising the bar on aviation safety, integrating unmanned aircraft systems into the National Airspace System, and accelerating implementation of the NextGen air traffic management system.

On February 3, 2016, the House introduced its Bill H.R. 4441, the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act. The bill’s most controversial provision is to move the oversight of Air Traffic Control from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to a private not-for-profit organization. A committee has issued a report to the full chamber recommending that the bill be considered further. Only about one in four bills are reported out of committee. There have been no roll call votes related to this bill as of the writing of this article.

In March, legislation was passed to extend the current FAA programs and funding through July 15, which should give the House plenty of time to pass a bill.

ICAO Releases Guide on Fatigue Management

The International Civil Aviation Organization recently released a Fatigue Management Guide, which includes elements of principles and guidelines for duty and rest scheduling in business aviation that were produced in collaboration with NBAA’s Safety Committee, as well as guidelines for business aviation duty and rest developed by the Flight Safety Foundation. A letter accompanying the guide states that the guide “aims to familiarize general aviation operators with contemporary concepts of fatigue management and provide guidance for their implementation in day to day operations.”

The guide can be downloaded by going to http://www.icao.int/safety/fatiguemanagement.

Traffic Flow Changes at LAX for GA/Corporate Arrivals Begin May 9

Due to the closure of Taxiway B on the southwest portion of LAX, general aviation and corporate oper-ations arriving from the north and west will be given the LEENA FIVE arrival in order to route to the south side of the airport.

The change to the LEENA FIVE arrival is due to the significant constraints of moving aircraft from the north complex to the south complex where the fixed-based operators are located.

LAX-Airport Constraints-1

LAX-Airport Constraints-2The standard procedure for aircraft arriving from the north and west is to do the right downwind to Runway 24R. The LEENA FIVE arrival will transition aircraft to the south side of the airport for an arrival to Runway 25L.

For general/business aviation operators flying to LAX from an internal Los Angeles-area airport, Southern California TRACON will tactically manage the route in order to get you to the south side of the airport. The operational plan is to also utilize the LEENA FIVE for general aviation operations next year when Runway 25R is scheduled to be closed between January and May 2017.

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