FAA revises FAR Part 91

The FAA has recently made major changes to the Federal Aviation Regulations Part 91. Here’s the story.

Things just got a little more complicated for those carriers operating under FAR Part 91. Previously those operating under Part 91 could breeze by with little or no contact with the Federal Aviation Administration. This has since changed. Previously Part 91 stated any commercial carrier transporting persons less that 25 miles from their departure location and returning to the location they departed from could operate under Part 91. Part 91 of course required the aircraft to have a valid 100-hour / annual inspection and an appropriately certified pilot. Anyone operating under Part 91 need not have any special permission from the FAA. Pretty simple. Not anymore. The FAA has revised Part 91 adding a lot of red tape. Part 91 now requires any carrier operating under Part 91 to receive a Letter of Authorization from the nearest FAA Flight Standards District Office. To obtain this Letter of Approval a carrier must submit proof of 100-hour / annual inspection, personal information and license numbers for any mechanics working on the aircraft, personal information and license numbers for any pilots of the aircraft, and a clean drug screen for all pilots. Now these requirements were already present in Part 135 but this is a big change for the little guys operating under Part 91. The Federal Aviation Regulations apply to all aircraft, fixed wing and rotor.

Kind of interesting that the FAA is cracking down on the little guys. It makes me wonder what happened to trigger such a revision. I can’t say as I necessarily disagree with any of the requirements. I have thought a drug screen should have been required since the inception of Part 91. This should make us feel better when flying on our little sight seeing tours when you can’t help but wonder how well the aircraft has been maintained. Now the FAA will be monitoring it. More than anything this will just be more of a hassle. It took the owner / operator in the article three months to receive his Letter of Approval.

Overall I think this is a good change and will increase safety among the aviation industry.

War on terror still not getting the support it requires

The request for troops sent by General McChrystal to President Obama over a month ago still has not been answered. Here’s the story.

General McChrystal, the top U.S. officer in Kabul, made an official request for additional troops over a month ago now. General McChrystal gave multiple options. One of those requests called for 60,000 additional troops and a more popular request called for approximately 40,000 more troops to be sent oversees to assist in the war against terror. I have no details on the third scenario. The story reads that these requests are finally being deliberated on today. This is reportedly the fifth meeting of the war council. There is reportedly unease about such a significant escalation. General McChrystal has reported that the U.S. faces possible “mission failure” in Afghanistan unless the U.S. quickly sends large numbers of forces there. The Obama administration has yet to take any action.

Now I know it has been over a month since this request was sent, I’m thinking in the neighborhood of five to six weeks. The last number I saw said that over 50 soldiers have been killed since the request was sent. How many more soldiers will die while the powers that be sit on their hands and talk about it. A week is bad enough but over a month now. And why have we not gotten around to making a decision yet? Well we have been busy with stuff like running off to Denmark to lose the Olympics to Rio. What is more important to you? Soldier’s lives or the Olympics in the President’s home town? The behavior and lack of responsibility shown by the administration in this decision is completely unacceptable. The fact that they have had five meetings and still haven’t made a decision proves that apparently they didn’t have any idea what was going on in Afghanistan. I don’t feel someone who was properly informed and up to speed would be so surprised by a request for additional troops or take five meetings to catch up on what was going on. Make a decision. Support the war against terror or pull out. Do not leave our soldiers unequipped to do the job putting their lives in danger. If you want to pull out then do it. I do not agree but that is an entirely different story about how the world super power is giving up and will become a nice spineless target for everyone with a grudge.

Its already been too long and more than 50 soldiers have died that possibly wouldn’t have died with appropriate resources. Whatever the decision, a decision needs to be made.

Yet another stimulus package is in the works

It looks like we’re going to be giving away more money. Here’s the full story.

FoxNews is reporting that the federal government is preparing a new stimulus package, though they are not calling it a stimulus package. Democrats have a long list of relief efforts they will be attempting to enact. Democrats are leaving how to pay for these relief efforts until later if even at all. The proposed assistance includes extending and expanding the first time home buyers tax credit. The credit would now extend into next year and encompass more that just first time home purchases. Another option is to create a tax credit for companies that add jobs. The proposal would allow a $4,000.00 tax credit for every job added by a company. This proposal was also mentioned when the first stimulus bill was planned in February however it was abandoned due to not being detailed. This has the makings of another economic stimulus package however democrats are not calling it that due to the negative results of the first stimulus package. The house has already voted to extend unemployment benefits for 13 additional weeks in the 27 states where the unemployment rate is in excess of 8.5%. Democrats later revised this to include all states and would extend benefits for 14 weeks. Another proposal would extend the benefits to workers who have been laid-off to help those individuals keep their health insurance. Several proposals have included an additional payment to over 50 million social security recipients to compensate for the lack of a cost of living increase this year. These payments would cost approximately $14 billiion and would be paid for by applying the social security payroll tax to income beyond the first $106,800.00 of a workers income. Social security payroll tax would now be withheld on incomes between $250,000.00 up to $359,000.00.

Have we not seen already that printing money to hand to people and multiplying the national debt is not fixing the problem. People are not spending money. They are afraid to and I can’t say as I expect them. I have just a little faith in our economy and our leaders as the next guy. And do I really want everyone going out and buying new homes in these economic times. Isn’t the irresponsible lending of money most of what got us into this mess to begin with? I don’t want people doing anything to decrease their financial security at present. I would not have a problem with a tax credit for companies that add jobs though I think it would be hard to manage. There would have to be verbiage as to if this was only to new jobs or any job that was previously vacant and refilled such as positions that had been laid-off. I would also want to see stipulations that companies would have to maintain these added positions for so many years so they just don’t terminate the position after they get their tax credit for it. I can’t say as I’m in favor of extending the unemployment benefits. I personally know multiple business owners that have positions open and receive multiple calls inquiring about jobs each week. The kicker is that the people calling hang up when they learn that they have jobs open. These people are just looking for employers that are not hiring to sign off on their unemployment paperwork so they can continue to live off my tax dollars. Now I am certain that not everyone that is unemployed is a mooch and some are probably truly looking for employment. We had too many people living off the system before this depression and now it is even worse. Oh! I said depression. Yes, we are in a depression. And no, there is no big recovery. The government would call this a “jobless recovery”. I’ve never heard something so stupid. Jobless recovery is an oxymoron. When the economy recovers there will be need for jobs. Its that simple.

I could continue to rant from atop my soap box but I don’t think it would do any good presently. This article does have more information if you would like to read it. It includes an interview with Nancy Pelosi. I didn’t comment on that because it would have all been negative as I can’t stand her. The very type of irresponsible spending that the government is displaying is what got us into this mess to begin with. And instead of training the population to be more frugal we are enacting tax cuts to get people to spend money that they don’t have.

AT&T attacks google for having a good idea

Being the nerd I am I keep an eye on the tech news and this one caught my eye. Not specifically about technology only so I hope it won't bore you too much. Here is the story.

AT&T is going after Google for their Google Voice service claiming that it violates Federal Communications Commission Rules and Regulations. The reason for this being that Google Voice does not allow calls to certain regions or numbers with high access or connection fees. AT&T says that under federal telecommunications laws other carriers do not have that option and are required to give access to all numbers. And now to the meet at potatos of AT&T's complaint: "By blocking these calls, Google is able to reduce its access expenses," AT&T said in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission. This isn't the first effort AT&T has taken to block Google. The Google Voice application was blocked by the Apple iStore due to this service competing with the sole carrier of the iPhone, AT&T.

I think this is another example of someone coming up with a good idea and the company that is getting hurt because they didn't think of it is going to cry about it. Is there something wrong with capitalism all of the sudden? I personally feel that Google Voice is not subject to the standing Federal Communications Commission Rules and Regulations. Google Voice is an application that can be downloaded voluntarily and Google Voice is a free service. If you call AT&T you are charged dearly for it. They are making money to compensate for the high access fees to certain numbers. Google had a good idea and they should benefit from it - though they really aren't because they are not making money from it. If AT&T doesn't like it they should work and create a better product rather than making these borderline accusations trying to get the smart guy in trouble.

I will be curious to see how the FCC responds. With the favoritism of a socialist economy I won't be surprised at either decision.

National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Service This Weekend

Thousands will be attending the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s Memorial this weekend in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Firehouse published a story here.

This year’s National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Service quickly approaches. The service is scheduled for this weekend, October 2-4. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation hosts the event at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland each year. This will be the 28^th annual service. The actual memorial service will be held the morning of Sunday, October 4^th and thousands will be in attendance. The names of 122 firefighters will be added to the memorial this year, 103 firefighters who died in the line of duty in 2008 as well as 19 firefighters who perished in previous years. The foundation hosts the memorial service as well as a candlelight vigil and family activities for the kids throughout the weekend. Workers literally spend the entire year planning and preparing for this weekend. And when this weekend is over they will do it all over again.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is a wonderful organization. The foundation not only hosts the memorial each year but continues to care for the families of fallen firefighters by seeing that they get the benefits they deserve. Southwest Missouri has mourned the loss of a few firefighters in the recent years. Steve Fierro of the Carthage Fire Department, Tim Hardy of the Neosho Fire Department, and most recently Tyler Casey of the Seneca District Fire Department. Tyler was killed during the May 2008 tornado. Tyler was killed while getting families in the path of the storm to safety. More information about Tyler is available on the Seneca District Fire Department’s web site. More information on the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is available on their web site.

Nothing is more heroic than to give one’s life while protecting others.

Texting While Driving Summit

Texting while driving will be the topic of an upcoming Distracted Driving Summit in Washington DC. Read more here.

The Dallas News did an interview with Dallas based AT&T about an upcoming Distracted Driving Summit which will be held in Washington DC. The talking point of this summit will be texting while driving. Chairman and CEO of AT&T, Randall Stephenson, said, “Our goal is to send a simple, yet vital, message to all wireless users: Don’t text and drive.” A study conducted by the Virginia Technical Transportation Institute showed that texting while driving makes people 23 times more likely to get into a crash or near-crash situation. The national average for all ages of people for texting while driving is approximately 26.4 percent. The number jumps to 58 percent nationally when only interviewing teenagers. One method to be explored would require states to institute a law making texting while driving illegal in order to continue to receive federal highway funding.

Texting while driving is a problem and will continue to be a problem no matter what measures we take. It’s somewhat ironic that text messaging was initially introduced to give customers a way of communicating that would not immediately interrupt them in case one party was busy at the time. They could respond when they were available. Now this service that was introduced for convenience is causing a serious safety issue because people don’t have the self discipline to set their phones down while they’re driving. I cannot tell you how many vehicles I have stopped that were swerving from lane to lane, thinking the driver was hammered, only to find a young girl still texting as I approached the vehicle. Sorry ladies but in my experience it’s been the girls guilty of this one. The organizations involved with the upcoming summit have explored creating public service announcements and placing bill boards and placing warnings inside new cellular telephones when they are sold. These are all good ideas but ideas that won’t work. I’ve never known anybody to change their life from a public service commercial. The commercials usually have a good message but people are set in their ways. These methods show that the powers that be are concerned about the problem but ultimately are a waste of money. On the other end of the spectrum, they have explored requiring new laws against texting while driving. This is not going to immediately curb the problem either. Be honest with yourselves, are you going to quit texting behind the wheel because a law says you can’t? Do you not speed because a law says you can’t? The only thing a law will do is give law enforcement a method of punishment when this activity is causing a problem. I’m not fond of giving police yet something else to monitor but I fear that will be the only way. As a general rule people are not self disciplined enough to change their behavior merely because someone tells them something is somewhat dangerous. The only other issue I have with this proposed law is the verbage. Members of the trucking industry have already lobbied to have commercial long-haul vehicles excluded from this law saying they have computers in their cabs for business communications. This really makes me wonder what this law is going to include. Cellular telephones? Any electronic communications? I have no problem with truck drivers having computers in their cabs as long as that computer is only capable of communicating with the company and displaying the global positioning information which they use. Because there is nothing that makes truck drivers any better at driving than a 16 year old. You would think being on the road all that time would actually improve their skills but not the case. I’ve seen some texting teenagers that drive better than some truck drivers. I can think of many different reasons to need a computer or communications terminal in your vehicle. Law enforcement use them regularly. Fire and EMS services use them as well. Crutial information about patients or merely directions to a call are all available at their fingertips. I feel the pros outweigh the cons in their situation.

I will be interested to hear the proposed method to tackle this problem following the summit. As with anything government related, we probably will have another year of planning only to institute a plan that will not work.

Secret Nuclear Research Facility in Iran

FoxNews reports that the United Nations has become aware that the Islamic regime is building a secret nuclear facility in Iran. That story is here.

FoxNews reported that intelligence agencies discovered the secret construction of an underground nuclear facility in Iran. Reportedly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reported the construction of the facility to the International Atomic Energy Agency by letter after he learned that the underground nuclear site had been discovered. The letter from President Ahmadinejad claimed the nuclear facility would be used for peaceful purposes such as power production. The United Nations reports that the size of the facility is too small to be used for power production and the secrecy around the project also gives doubt. President Obama said that, “Iran is on notice…” and would have to come clean on their actions at their October 1^st meeting. The President also said, “Iran can choose to give up what the U.S. says is the desire for nuclear weapons and abide by international standards, or it can continue down a path toward confrontation.” The world community as a whole agreed with President Obama’s statements.

I am proud of President Obama for taking a stand against this activity. President Obama made some strict demands and didn’t rule out military action. He did however say he would choose to resolve the situation diplomatically. The President has a history of being weak on these issues and I’m glad he’s taking a stand against Iran. A better test though will be if Iran fails to comply. Will President Obama take military action or is this nothing more than a bluff.

I am curious to see how Iran responds as they have denied inspectors access at this time. The secrecy combined with their unwillingness to cooperate doesn’t support their allegation that this is nothing more than peaceful research.