RunwayFinder Offline

I'm sad to report that RunwayFinder.com, one of my favorite flight planning websites, is now officially offline, a victim of a unjust lawsuit (which I wrote about previously), as now AeroNav's decision to charge high user fees for their digital products. Thank you Dave Parsons for providing such a great site for as long as you did. Undoubtedly you helped the pilot community immeasurably over the years.

Just a point on the AeroNav debacle. The has been written about at length by many in the industry. Some of the best articles I've seen are here, here and here. I still struggle to understand how an agency can be so shortsighted. The main point here, that seems to be getting missed, is about aviation safety. That's why these procedures exist. That's why they spend so much time and effort to make sure they are created properly and check them regularly to make sure they are still safe. The ultimate measure in safety is dissemination of information and ease of access to that information. That is what AeroNav should be focused on. (AeroNav, are you sure you can't figure out how to shave $5M off of your bureaucracy that I'm paying for??)

By the way, if you really want to get nervous about the cost of flying, read the FAA's new FAQ about their reauthorization.

Aviation's economic impact

Importance of aviation to our economy. A pretty interesting infographic created by the FAA.

American Airlines gets FAA Approval to use iPads

http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/13/american-airlines-first-to-be-granted-faa-approval-for-pilot-ipads/

Thanks @demmler for the link.

FAA Administrator Arrested For DUI

The leader of the Federal Aviation Administration get busted for drunk driving.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/babbitt_drunk_driving_faa_arrest_dui_205839-1.html

update 12/7/2011, Babbit resigns:
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/babbitt_faa_administrator_resigns_drunk_driving_dui_dwi_205844-1.html

New FAA NextGen maps

The FAA has updated their ADS-B Surveillance and Broadcast Services maps and information. It's now a much more readable/usable format.

http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/portfolio/trans_support_progs/adsb/broadcastservices/

http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/flashMap/index.cfm