The AOPA wrote yesterday about a new rule relating to the Washington DC ADIZ. This rule requires any pilot who flies VFR within 60 nm of the ADIZ boundaries to take a mandatory training course. Apparently, this includes 117 airports and 142,000 cubic miles of airspace. Are you a student pilot at an airport 90 miles West of Washington who plans to never get anywhere near the ADIZ? You'd better get your training done, or else. Do you fly gliders 90 miles North of Washington and always work further North or West? Too bad, you have to complete the training as well.

I know many of us, in our initial training, were introduced to the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), but in the intervening two to twenty years, some of us may have forgotten exactly how powerful a resource the Aviation Safety program is.

The ANN and AOPA are both reporting the great news that the duration of pilot medical certificates has been extended for pilots under 40 years old. First class medicals now last 12 monts and third class medicals are good for 60 months. Is yours already expired? Don't worry...if the original issue date was within those limits your medical grandfathered back into effect.

I've been concerned lately by the FAA's actions regarding airline inspections. I was glad to see Congressman James Oberstar calling them out, but had begun to worry that he was all talk and no action. Thankfully, the House of Representatives has given me reason to worry less. The Washington Post reports that not only did they recently pass an Air Safety Bill sponsored by Congressmen Oberstar and John Mica, they passed it with a unanimous vote!

Ben Mutzabaugh, a USA Today blogger, reported today that American Airlines has 35 Airbus A-300 aircraft with wiring that is not in compliance with FAA regulations. Since the last time an issue like this arose (with American Airlines' MD-80 aircraft) the entire US air transport system fell into chaos for about a week, the FAA has approved an "alternative compliance timetable" for the airline to get these fixes done. (The aircraft will keep flying, while a couple jets at a time cycle through the maintenance facility.)

Late last year, the Santa Monica city council voted to ban category C and D aircraft from using their muicipal airport. As far as anyone in the Aviation industry can tell, this statute is completely illegal and thankfully, as the LA Times reports, a district judge has issued a restraining order that forbids the city from enforcing that ordinance pending review.

The FAA got aviators excited when it announced a list of 22 changes to the Sport Pilot rule this week. Though the document is a little tough to read, it's worth looking though. As far as I can tell so far, the changes are all positive and will make the Sport Pilot rating even more viable than it already is.

Some of the improvements include:

CNN Money, Fox News and the rest of America are buzzing over thousands of airline flights canceled over the last few days. Although some mention that high oil prices share part of the blame, the real reason the airlines aren't flying is that they are completing inspections that should have been done before this week.