Military Aviation

The Air Force is scrapping minimum and maximum height requirements for pilots in a bid primarily to attract more female candidates. Until earlier this week the standard Air Force pilot was between 5 feet 4 inches and 6 feet 5 inches tall with a sitting height of 34 to 40 inches. About 44 percent of […]

A U.S Air Force F-35A Lightning II crashed while landing at Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base at approximately 9:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The pilot was able to eject successfully and was taken to the 96th Medical Group Hospital for evaluation and monitoring. According to base personnel, the aircraft was participating in a routine […]

Capt. Jennifer Casey, the public affairs officer for the Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds has been identified as the crew member who died in the crash of one of the air demonstration team’s CT-114 Tutor jets. Capt. Richard MacDougall, the pilot of the aircraft and one of the coordinators, was seriously injured when the aircraft […]

An uncharacteristic bobble in the Thunderbirds’ tribute flight over the Los Angeles area on Friday has lit up the forums but hasn’t prompted any comment from the Air Force. Video shot by a news helicopter shows the No. 6 airplane doing an emergency breakaway from the signature delta formation as the No. 3 F-16 rolls […]

An F-22 Raptor crashed near Florida’s Eglin Air Force Base at approximately 9:15 a.m. local time on Friday. According to base officials, the pilot ejected safely from the aircraft and was taken to the 96th Medical Group hospital on Eglin for evaluation and observation. The pilot, whose name has not been released, is in stable […]

The National Museum of the United States Air Force has announced that it has expanded its virtual tour feature. New additions to the free online tour include virtual reality capabilities, a social media snapshot tool, new videos and access to online educational activities such as lesson plans, word searches and coloring sheets. The museum has […]

An Australia-based team led by Boeing presented its Loyal Wingman autonomous unmanned aircraft prototype to the Royal Australian Air Force on Tuesday. The aircraft, which is designed to “fly alongside existing platforms and use artificial intelligence to conduct teaming missions,” is the first of three prototypes headed for Australia’s Loyal Wingman Advanced Development Program. Ground […]

Airbus announced on Friday that it has successfully conducted the first-ever fully automated air-to-air refueling (A3R) operation with a boom system. According to the company, its A3R system was flight tested earlier in the year using an Airbus tanker with a Portuguese air force F-16 acting as a receiver. A total of 45 flight test […]

A week after Boeing indefinitely extended its layoff of 30,000 employees, it’s recalling about 2,500 of them and some will be at work on Monday. According to the Seattle Times, the workers will head back to plants carrying out defense projects and also those maintaining the hundreds of stored Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Critical lab […]

An unwilling and unwitting passenger in a high-performance fighter accidentally pulled the ejection handle during a retirement “gift” flight in France a little more than a year ago, triggering an investigation that revealed a sloppy approach to conducting familiarization flights.  As we reported last March, the man suffered back injuries when he mistakenly launched from […]