Aviation News

Sonic booms rattled southern Oregon last week but the Air National Guard isn’t apologizing. Spokeswoman Capt. Mitzi Mazzia said two F-15s broke the sound barrier last Thursday morning as part of a readiness exercise. Residents of Coos Bay and North Bend and Charleston weren’t ready, however, and flooded authorities with calls… If Richard Branson says […]

A World War II flying ace and former leader of the Blue Angels, Capt. Arthur Ray “Hawk” Hawkins, was buried Monday. Full military honors, including a flypast by the Blue Angels, were accorded Hawkins, who died in Pensacola from complications of a stroke at age 81. After 14 kills and three probables in the war, […]

The NBAA has posted online its report on the cost of restricting GA access to airspace and airports, which it recently delivered to the House Aviation Subcommittee… American Airlines cancelled a flight in Florida on Friday after a psychic called in a tip that a bomb might be on board. A search turned up nothing… […]

A 31-year-old man apparently committed suicide by jumping from a Cessna 172 at 2,500 feet near Manhattan, Kan., on Monday afternoon. The aircraft landed safely with three people on board… Cessna’s Citation XLS, a successor to the Excel business jet, has received FAA program approval, Cessna announced on Tuesday… Adam Aircraft appointed Joe Walker as […]

Next time you flip on your GPS, pause for moment to consider what’s running it. The U.S. Air Force Space Command launched its 50th GPS satellite on Saturday to replace one that’s nearing the end of its life. The tab? $45 million for the satellite, plus whatever it costs for the ride from Cape Canaveral […]

Pilot disorientation is the probable cause of a Cirrus SR-22 crash Jan. 18, 2003, according to the NTSB’s final report on the accident, which occurred near Hill City, Minn. The pilot, Gary Prokop, and passenger James Cosak died in the crash. Prokop had only a VFR rating and flew into IMC inadvertently before the crash. […]

What a difference 20 years makes. It was late 1983, at that year’s NBAA annual meeting, that Beech brought down the house with a flyover of a scaled version of its proposed all-composite turbopusher, the Starship 2000. Last year, Beech’s new owner Raytheon announced it would scrap the 40-odd airframes it was leasing and developed […]

A flight data recorder found in a locked cabinet in a United Nations office in New York appears to be the missing FDR from a Falcon 50 crash 10 years ago in Africa that killed the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi and sparked a violent conflict that killed a half-million people… A pilot flying for […]

In an amended Airworthiness Directive, the FAA proposed for Cessna Models 208 and 208B airplanes that additional inspections of the bellcranks are necessary; comment period extended till May 17… Actor Harrison Ford has been named new Young Eagles chairman by EAA, replacing Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, who will become Chairman Emeritus… NASA opened new 3-D […]

Lancair owners are being urged to inspect the fuel pressure transducer on Columbia 300 and 350 aircraft. The company issued the advisory after a transducer on a Columbia was found to be chafing against its mounting bracket. Lancair has also asked the FAA to issue an Airworthiness Directive… The radios went silent at some European […]