Unruly passengers on the rise
The International Aviation Transport Association (IATA) reports the number of unruly passenger incidents increased in 2022. IATA calls for more states to take the necessary authority to prosecute passengers under Montreal Protocol 2014 (MP14), and for greater crew de-escalation training. Analysis illustrates that the number of unruly passenger events changed from one in every 835 flights in 2021, to one in 568 flights in 2022. The...
Industry calls on government to enact student funding protection
Industry associations are calling on government to enact financial protection measures to prevent students from losing their training investment in the event of a flying school folding. Following the recent demise of two large Approved Training Organisations (ATOs), Tayside Aviation and FTA-Global, the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA), Bristol Groundschool, Wings Alliance and Seager Publishing have written a joint letter to...
To oversee or not to oversee?
Investigations by FTN have uncovered the possibility that the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) may be failing in a statutory duty to provide financial oversight of UK flying schools, potentially increasing the financial risk to students enrolling on flight training programmes. As has been recently reported in FTN, two major UK Approved Training Organisation (ATOs) have collapsed over the last couple of months and in both instances,...
Overflight of glider sites
The UK Civil Aviation Authority is reminding pilots to avoid overflying gliding sites. The CAA says that almost all gliding sites in the UK use a winch launch, where gliders are launched with a winch and steel cable instead of being towed by an aircraft. The CAA adds that 90% of gliding clubs winch launch to at least 2,000 feet above ground level. A winch launching glider can reach over 1,000 feet in about 20 seconds, says the CAA,...
Degraded Visual Environment training
Rotary flight training school Helicopter Services is launching a new training programme aimed at equipping pilots with new knowledge and techniques for dealing with flight in a degraded visual environment. Flight in a Degraded Visual Environment (DVE) is unfamiliar, can be extremely challenging and ultimately lead to an accident, explains Helicopter Services MD and chief pilot Leon Smith. “By understanding planning, avoidance and...
RAF selects Swift for net-zero powerplant project
The RAF has engaged with British aircraft designer and manufacturer Swift Technology Group, to use the manufacturer’s eponymous Swift light aircraft as a testbed for the service’s push toward net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. The Swift, which is the first British civil aircraft to be wholly designed, manufactured and certified in the UK in more than two decades has been selected for Monet, an RAF Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO)...
