Aviation News

Last week, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Interim NYC Police Commissioner Tom Donlon announced the city’s Drone as First Responder (DFR) program. The initiative is now active in five commands (two drones each) within three of the city’s five boroughs. Missions include missing persons searches, alerts from the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system, robberies/grand […]

The National Business Aviation Association’s publication Aviation Insider recently published an article entitled “How Smaller Business Aviation Operators Do More With Less.” It focuses on how corporate flight departments with three or fewer aircraft—many with only one—maximize resources to meet all their responsibilities in operating safely and efficiently at the same time. Many elements of […]

Airports in Canada and the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. are bracing for a long round of extreme weather expected starting tonight over a wide swath of western North America. The area has seen substantially dry conditions for months. But a very slow-moving “atmospheric river” is moving in, expected to bring high winds and torrential […]

With a second-term president looking on, SpaceX’s sixth Starship test flight met the company’s metrics for success. Instead of returning to the launch pad, the booster diverted to an ocean ditching but the stripped-down first stage survived an aggressive reentry that was calculated to potentially destroy it. Donald Trump was on hand with Elon Musk […]

Vermont-based Beta Technologies has announced the completion and initial test flight of its first production Alia conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft last week. It’s the first all-electric aircraft built on Beta’s new-build production line in South Burlington, Vermont. The company also plans a vertical takeoff (VTOL) version of the Alia. Beta CEO, founder and […]

Textron Aviation announced today it has delivered the first of a pair of multi-mission Beech King Air 360CHW twin turboprops to the Peruvian air force. The CHW “special missions” version of the King Air has an expanded cargo door and is optimized for expanded gross-weight operations. Bob Gibbs, Textron Aviation VP of Special Mission Sales, […]

Microsoft Flight Simulator “pilots” can now take the controls of a Joby Aviation electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi. The Santa Cruz, California-based eVTOL developer announced today its six-motor aircraft’s profile will be included in the next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. According to the company, Flight Sim players will be able […]

The first free flight of Vertiia, an eVTOL that will be powered by hydrogen took place in Australia earlier this week. The Vertiia used battery power to do 50 vertical takeoffs and landings at AMSL Aero’s Bankstown, New South Wales facility. It had been doing the same thing with a tether since last February. Future […]

The U.S. Air Force has signed off on a plan to put AI in the left seat of its Boeing KC-135 tanker fleet. Autonomous flight developer Merlin announced it will begin flying the KC-135s – an airframe designed in the 1950s alongside the Boeing 707 airliner from the original 367-80 prototype – with Merlin Pilot, […]

President-elect Donald Trump has suggested that one of the first priorities for Sean Duffy, his pick for Transportation Secretary, is to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs for pilots and air traffic controllers to “make our skies safe again.” Duffy was selected late Monday and was not among those being touted for the job. […]