After 18 years as leader of the nation's largest pilot advocacy group, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Phil Boyer has announced his retirement as AOPA President. His retirement will be efective at the end of this year. Boyer was reported as saying he looks forward to "getting his life back."

Will Enter Commercial Service In June

Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik and Airship Ventures announced this week the successful first flight of the fourth, and latest, Zeppelin NT airship over Friedrichshafen, Germany.

With construction of the fourth Zeppelin NT airship recently completed, the ship was handed over to the flight test department to begin the testing phase. The hangar doors opened and the airship left the 360-foot long hangar for the first time since the start of airframe assembly in March 2007.

The FAA has arrived at a ‘Return to Service’ solution for those balloons grounded under UPN 2009-0058. The affected balloons are those that had fabric replacement repairs performed by Micki’s Balloon Repair in Marshall, TX, between August 2002 and November 2006 without proper documentation and certifications. The repairs utilized fabric from Kenyon Industries.

The Return to Service process involves the removal and inspection of a sample portion of the questioned fabric, and upon satisfactory testing, the filing of a FAA Form 337.