Aviation News

NASA reported last week its X-66 Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD) project has completed its first round of low-speed wind tunnel testing at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The trials collected measurements on lift and drag under multiple aerodynamic configurations and flight conditions. The X-66 concept incorporates an “extra-long” (high aspect ratio) strut-braced transonic […]

In a sponsored-content piece published this week on Politico, the U.S. General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) asserted that the European Union is “squeezing” general aviation and unwittingly threatening Europe’s global economic competitiveness. The association addresses plans by European regulators to raise taxes on business aviation and restrict flights in the name of environmental sustainability. GAMA […]

The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and local co-complainants in California issued a 47-page filing last week with the U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration against Santa Clara County in California with the goal of re-establishing the availability of 100 low lead (100LL) aviation fuel at Reid-Hillview Airport (KRHV). The new filing asks the […]

A panel from the U.S. Senate reported today that airline fees for seat assignments and luggage are on the rise and called for airline executives to testify on Dec. 4. The hearing, titled “The Sky’s the Limit – New Revelations About Airline Fees” will be convened by Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. He is the chair […]

The Eliminate Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) initiative posted a warning today (posted below in italics) for pilots regarding concern over misfuelling as new unleaded fuels of varying types and octane levels are starting to make their way to market. It cautions pilots to ensure their aircraft—particularly those requiring high-octane fuels—are not misfueled with “the […]

Among his first targets as co-leader of incoming President Donald Trump’s (advisory) Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk took to his social media platform X with scathing statements concerning the Lockheed Martin 5th Generation F-35 stealth fighter—and manned combat aircraft, in general. Musk wrote: “Some idiots are still building manned fighter jets […]

Argentina’s aviation regulator has dropped all age restrictions for commercial pilots, saying qualifications will depend on medical assessment and technical knowledge. The National Civil Aviation Administration of Argentina (ANAC) passed a resolution Monday that eliminated the previous age limits of 60 for single-pilot and 65 for two-pilot operations on for-hire flights. “With advances in medicine […]

A volunteer pilot, Seuk Kim, for the animal rescue organization Pilots N Paws, was killed when his Mooney 201 went down in a remote mountainous area in upstate New York on Sunday about 6 p.m. A puppy and another dog survived the crash but another dog also died. Weather was reported rough at the time […]

Aviation’s most enduring mystery remains just that. The company that was so sure it had found Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan’s Lockheed Electra now say the airplane shape they spotted on sonar was a diabolically arranged natural rock formation. “Talk about the cruelest formation ever created by nature,” said Tony Romeo, CEO of ocean exploration […]

Lithuanian authorities say that so far there is no evidence of sabotage in the crash of a cargo plane near the country’s capital city Monday. One crew member was killed and three others were injured in the crash of a SwiftAir Boeing 737-400 freighter operating for DHL near the airport at Vilnius, Lithuania, early Monday. […]