The global aviation industry will be watching Australia this year as it prepares to impose the first nationwide equipage mandate for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), years ahead of the deadlines proposed by European and U.S. regulators.

The woman in charge of the National Transportation Safety Board is now among the top contenders to replace Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. If Deborah Hersman is nominated and confirmed, she will have to temper her approach to ferreting out problems in the transportation system to align with the confines of a limited budget.

Broad upgrade plan for current E-Jets underpins strategy

Groundings of U.S. Commercial Transports Are Rare

G650 switched batteries a year before certification.

The European Commission (EC) in November proposed to temporarily exempt non-European flights from the European Union's Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), but the 27 member states and the European Parliament (EP) must endorse the deal. More worrisome is that many airlines operating to Europe might have misinterpreted the buoyant “stop the clock” message of EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and wrongly believe that they are no longer required to comply with the system at all.

The Indian airline market has great potential and myriad problems

Jim Wurth, a former Eastern Airlines pilot and Pratt & Whitney engineer, became interested in batteries when his MD-500 helicopter would not start after a night out in the cold in New Mexico years ago. He and a friend had camped in a remote area and faced a long walk out even to get cellphone coverage. Fortunately, a warming sun got them on their way that afternoon. But Wurth thought there had to be a better answer for batteries.