Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

The FAA released a new <a href="http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_5_6289.html">Notice to Airmen</a> (Notam) that changes the rules for operation of foreign-registered aircraft weighing less than or equal to 100,309 pounds within U.S. airspace. FDC Notam 5/6289 was issued on December 14, and while the Notam itself is difficult to interpret, Rockwell Collins’s ArincDirect division published a useful explanation of the Notam, available below.&nbsp;

 


The first change is that foreign-registered aircraft at or below that weight threshold can now “operate domestic flights within the USA without a TSA waiver,” according to ArincDirect. Above that threshold, aircraft must obtain a TSA waiver or operate under an approved TSA security program; this element has not changed.

 


The more significant change is that at or below that weight threshold, foreign-registered aircraft “will require a TSA Waiver to fly through U.S. airspace. This includes the Mexico, Canada, Bahamas, Cayman and British V.I. aircraft registries; there is no longer a provision or exemption for them.” There is no change for aircraft above that weight threshold, and the same requirement for a TSA waiver or TSA security program still applies.

 


The Notam provides no reason behind these changes.&nbsp;

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