North Carolina’s Mount Airy/Surry County Airport (KMWK) has completed construction on a 10,000-sq-ft terminal. It replaces a smaller existing building, which will be taken over by a flight school. Slated to open by month’s end, the municipally-operated FBO terminal will provide improved crew rest facilities and an on-site restaurant, Updraft Kitchen.

Part of a $6 million development at the dedicated general aviation airport, the project also included an additional ramp and customer parking, as well as a new fuel farm that is set to debut later this year and feature a 12,000-gallon jet-A tank and a 10,000-gallon self-service avgas tank.

According to KMWK manager George Crater, the expanded fuel operation will enhance its ability to quickly service airplanes at both the north (new terminal) and south (flight school and maintenance facility) ramps.

“These projects are creating a foundation for Mount Airy/Surry County Airport to thrive in the coming years,” said Crater, adding KMWK is ranked third out of 65 general aviation airports in the state in terms of economic impact. “I expect our impact to increase as we become fully operational here in the new facility.”

Lawyers for two U.S. pilots jailed in Guinea have appealed to the West African country’s supreme court in a bid to get them released. Scott Schlenker and Fabio Nunez have been in detention since December 29 after landing their Gulfstream IV in the capital Conakry for a refueling stop between Suriname and Dubai.

Local law firm Jocamey Avocats confirmed to AIN that it is representing the pilots. It said that it is pursuing a “decisive” ruling from Guinea’s supreme court.

According to local media reports, the GIV was carrying a Brazilian family, including two children, when it landed at Conakry Ahmed Sékou Touré International Airport (GUCY) for a tech stop. Officials arrested the pilots for allegedly landing without authorization and violating the country’s airspace.

Jocamey Avocats told AIN it will seek the pilots’ consent to release more details about the case. It remains unclear what happened to the aircraft and passengers.

Nunez’s fiancée, Lauren Stevenson, told the New York Post that the pilots were kept in jail even after an earlier appellate court ruled that they should be released on bail. She alleged that Guinea’s military intervened in the case and said the charges against the pair are unfounded.

The U.S. State Department has not commented on the fate of the two men. Reportedly, Nunez is from Ewing, New Jersey, and Schlenker resides in Chicago.

The FAA has increased the required minimum recording time for cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) initially on newly manufactured turbine business and commercial aircraft from two to 25 hours under a new final rule. The rule stems from a December 2023 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) and the 2024 FAA Reauthorization Act.

Three compliance timeframes are established. The first requires the 25-hour CVR for aircraft manufactured one year or more after the enactment of the reauthorization act, or May 16, 2025, and operating under Part 121 or transport category aircraft designed for operations by any air carrier or foreign air carrier type-certified with 30 or more passenger seats.

Second, aircraft that are required to be equipped with a CVR operating under Parts 91, 125, or 135 with an mtow of 59,525 pounds or more with 29 or fewer passenger seats must be equipped with a 25-hour CVR by Feb. 2, 2027.

Third, aircraft manufactured on or after Feb. 2, 2029—three years from the effective date of the final rule—operating under Parts 91, 125, or 135, and with a mtow of 59,524 pounds or less, are required to be equipped with a 25-hour CVR,

Charter flight marketplace Avinode has called on the business aviation sector to implement more stringent cybersecurity measures. In its new “Framework of Trust” report, the Sweden-based group outlines the sector’s exposure to identity- and credential-based attacks on aircraft operators and other charter service providers that could compromise their clients and undermine confidence in the industry.

“Business aviation runs on trust, discretion, and time-critical operations, but its digital defenses often do not match the sensitivity of the data it handles,” said Avinode CEO Oliver King in the introduction to the report. “Credential theft and identity-driven attacks are the easiest path in, and aviation still relies too heavily on password-only access, shared accounts, and slow off-boarding. The result is not just downtime, but exposure of itineraries, personal data, and financial information that can break customer trust overnight.”

According to Avinode, too many business aviation companies are falling short of current security standards in multiple areas, including identity management, account usage, access control, and data protection. For example, the report claimed, many industries have not fully adopted centralized identity management via single sign-on processes with enforced two-factor authentication.

Avinode has achieved compliance with the independently audited SOC 2 standard that tests how companies secure, monitor, and control access to company data. The group’s in-house legal team handles all data protection, contract reviews, and regulatory obligations.

Concerned about the washout rates of air traffic controller trainees, the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG) is kicking off an audit of the FAA’s controller hiring and training. The OIG audit comes as the DOT and FAA have undertaken efforts to “supercharge” hiring to bring 8,900 new controllers on board by 2028.

When the initial hiring push closed in March, the campaign had drawn more than 10,000 applicants. Of those, more than 8,300 were referred for initial testing, resulting in 600 entering the FAA training academy at one time, “the largest number in history,” the OIG noted.

However, the OIG added that despite these ambitious plans, “Factors such as attrition, retirements, and program washouts are severely impacting the overall success of increasing the number of certified controllers.” In addition, the academy is facing a shortage of qualified instructors, capacity limitations, an outdated curriculum, and high failure rates, the watchdog continued. In fiscal year 2024, that failure rate topped 30% for trainees.

“Given the importance of increasing the number of certified controllers to safely manage the NAS, we are initiating this audit,” the OIG said. The probe will look at the FAA’s efforts to address instructor shortages, training capacity limitations, and failure rates. In addition, the OIG will monitor progress in updating the training program curriculum.

Leaders from the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) outlined the structure and goals of its new Peer Pilot Mental Health Support Program during a recent FAA Safety Team (FAAST) webinar. The program is a confidential, peer-to-peer resource designed to address mental health challenges within the rotorcraft community. Operational oversight and clinical support are provided by the Centre for Aviation Psychology.

USHST officially launched the peer-to-peer assistance for personal and professional challenges last year at Verticon, marking an expansion of the organization’s safety portfolio beyond technical recommendations into mental well-being.

Chris Baur, CEO of Hughes Aerospace and industry co-chair of USHST, described the program as a long-overdue step for vertical aviation. “No amount of training prepares us for the internal burdens we sometimes carry alone,” Baur said. “The stigma around mental health support is lifting…it’s about time vertical aviation had a peer program of its own.”

The program is modeled in part on airline peer-support systems and is open not only to helicopter pilots, but also to mechanics, crewmembers, and fixed-wing pilots seeking support. Baur emphasized that the service is confidential, independent of employers and regulators, and free of charge. “This program is here with no judgment, no reports—just real people ready to listen,” he said.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee recently approved by voice vote bills to permit the use of digital pilot certificates and to help facilitate a transition of military air traffic controllers to a career at the FAA.

H.R.2247, Pilot Certificate Accessibility Act, permits pilots and other FAA certificate holders to present digital certificates instead of physical ones. Introduced by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee), the bill was amended to include certain guardrails around the security of the digital certificate. T&I chairman Sam Graves (R-Missouri) strongly backed the measure, noting that the legislation is an incremental step building on requirements included in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 for the FAA to digitize its processes.

“It's no secret that the FAA is often behind the times when adopting any new technology,” Graves said. “However, in this digital age, it's time for the FAA to join the 21st century and allow digital options for airmen certificates.”

In other action, the committee approved H.R.6744, the Military Air Traffic Control Transition Act. Introduced by Rep. Laura Gillen (D-New York), the bill directs the Joint Aviation Employment Working Group to focus on ATC career opportunities for military personnel and to identify barriers for transition into the civilian workplace. The bill comes as the FAA looks to continue its ramp-up in controller hiring.