Military Aviation

The FAA has granted a Supplemental Type Certificate to Boeing’s KC-46 tanker, the company announced this week. The STC is the second of two FAA certifications required for the aircraft. Next, Boeing will seek a Military Type Certificate from the U.S. Air Force, which is expected in the next few months. The required testing already […]

The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a contract to configure nine F/A-18E and two F/A-18F Super Hornets for the Blue Angels demonstration team. Since the team’s first performance in 1946, the Blue Angels have used eight aircraft models, including the F11F-1 Tiger, F-4J Phantom II and A-4F Skyhawk II. They have been flying F/A-18C/D Hornets […]

The Air Force is hoping to ease its pilot shortage by speeding up the training of new pilots using virtual reality simulators. The first class of 20 Pilot Training Next (PTN) candidates, 15 officers and five enlisted personnel, finished their course on Friday and 13 of the officers passed. Two officers washed out and were […]

The Air Force has suspended flight evaluations in its light attack aircraft experiment after the death of one of the program’s pilots in late June. Lt. Christopher Carey Short, a naval aviator, died in the crash of an A-29 Super Tucano at the Red Rio Bombing Range in the White Sands Missile Range in New […]

The U.S. government issued a policy directive aimed at managing growing space traffic more safely and effectively, including tackling increasing orbital debris, on Monday. Space Policy Directive-3 (SPD-3) calls for “a new approach to space traffic management (STM) that addresses current and future operational risks.” SPD-3’s goals also include encouraging commercial space travel, developing STM […]

The Air Force has temporarily grounded the entire B-1B fleet after an ejection seat mishap in May. A Lancer diverted to Midland, Texas, on May 1 and one of the ejection seat deployment hatches was missing when it landed. The seat did not fire, however, and all four crew used the belly stairway to leave […]

Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft hit its full cruise configuration for the first time May 11 and is expected to be flying farther and faster through the rest of the summer. The aircraft achieved 190 knots with its rotors fully forward and has a design cruise speed of 290 knots. The aircraft is being developed […]

NASA says it’s hiring a new round of flight directors to oversee U.S. human spaceflight for the upcoming Orion missions and the International Space Station, responsible for the success of missions and the highly trained teams of engineers and scientists that make them possible. “Flight directors play a critical role in the success of our […]

 Editors Note: This article originally ran in our sister publication,IFRmagazine in the June 1998 issue to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. With the 70th anniversary approaching, and with the passing of so many of the veterans who acted courageously to supply the citizens of Berlin, we are running it again to […]