Aviation News

A New Zealand company flew back-to-back flights in a rocket-powered drone it hopes will be the vanguard of routine access to space. Dawn Aerospace’s Mk-II Aurora flew two sorties to 63,000 feet and Mach .95 on Sept. 27 to demonstrate the quick turnaround of the aircraft. “Rapid reusability has been termed the ‘holy grail’ for rocket-powered […]

The Space Force is taking its X-37B space plane for a high-tech dump run that it’s billing as “groundbreaking innovation as it conducts national security missions in space.” In a rare news release about the hypersecret mission of the X-37B, the Space Force said it will employ aerobraking to rapidly change orbits using the drag […]

Police in Sonoma, California, are looking for a persistent would-be airplane thief who failed to make off with two aircraft on Sunday morning. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said that about 9:30 a.m. the man tried to get in a light aircraft that was idling as a mechanic worked on it. The mechanic “kicked the […]

A Chinese student at the University of Minnesota has been sentenced to six months in federal prison after authorities found pictures of navy ships under construction on a drone he abandoned near a Norfolk shipyard. But what authorities couldn’t determine is whether Fengyun Shi had anything to do with a spate of drone incursions over […]

Three European airlines have protested an AD they say will prevent their pilots from having a decent in-flight nap. On Oct. 8, the FAA issued a final rule for the AD that will require flight deck seats on most Boeing 787s to be modified to limit the amount they can recline. The agency says that […]

SpaceX succeeded with its most audacious feat to date, using mechanical arms deployed from its Texas launch tower to capture and hold the enormous Starship booster a few minutes after it launched a capsule to space. The 250-foot booster hovered above the Boca Chica launch pad before settling into the waiting arms of the tower […]

Boeing announced 17,000 layoffs, a one-year delay in the 777X program and the end of production for the civilian freighter version of the venerable 767 on Friday as it grapples with reduced revenues from a lingering strike and a seemingly endless stream of production and quality issues. “We reset our workforce levels to align with […]

The FAA has published a final rule eliminating expiration dates on flight instructor certificates, replacing them with recent experience requirements every 24 calendar months. The agency says that removing the expiration date on certificates will increase efficiency, cut costs and put instructor certificates in line with other airman certificates such as private and commercial, which […]

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are investigating a crash involving a twin-engine Beechcraft 95-B55 that occurred shortly after takeoff from Catalina Airport in California on Tuesday, killing all five on board. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, the bodies of five adults were discovered at the crash […]

On Wednesday, a coalition of airlines, maintenance providers and manufacturers released a report aimed at preventing unapproved parts from entering the aviation supply chain in the future. The Aviation Supply Chain Integrity Coalition, co-chaired by former National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt and former U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary John D. Porcari, includes industry stakeholders […]