Aviation News

The next group of SpaceX space tourists hope to include a spacewalk in their Polaris Dawn mission. It would be the first-ever private spacewalk, and some expensive preparations have been made. SpaceX has modified the interior of the Crew Dragon capsule to permit vacuum exposure and built new spacewalk-capable spacesuits for the four private astronauts: […]

The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) appears poised to challenge in court the National Air Transport Association’s assertion that General Aviation Modifications Inc.’s G100UL is not commercially available. “G100UL has been approved by FAA and is now in production.  There are approximately 1 million gallons available for purchase and distribution into California,” CEH’s lawyer Mark […]

A couple of weeks after it secured a $13 billion contract to supply the Air Force’s replacement for the E-4B Nightwatch airborne command and control aircraft, Sierra Nevada Corporation bought five Boeing 747-8s from Korean Airlines for about $135 million each. The contract stipulates four-engine aircraft for what has been renamed the Survivable Airborne Operations […]

Ukraine has extended the reach of its Light Sport drone program, this time striking 800 miles inside Russia to damage an oil refinery. The Aeroprakt A-22 completed the mission on May 9, and it would appear the program has expanded to include another homegrown design, the Aerosar Nynja. According to Forbes, Friday’s attack was Ukraine’s […]

U.S. tech firm Infleqtion has test flown a new unjammable quantum navigation system that doesn’t rely on external signals to determine aircraft position. The system uses an atomic clock and “ultra-cold-atom-based quantum system” that detects changes in motion of the aircraft. It was put through its paces on a modified Avro RJ100 for a total […]

Bangladeshi air force Squadron Leader Muhammed Asim Jawad died and his back-seater, his boss Wing Commander Sohan Hasan Khan, is in critical condition after the aircraft lost altitude during a series of aileron rolls and skipped off the side of the runway. After completing three rolls, the Yak-130 pancaked onto the runway at Chattogram Air […]

A NASA contractor is warning the agency to perform more safety inspections before greenlighting the inaugural launch of its Starliner rocket slated for as early as next week. Reports say ValveTech, a subcontractor for NASA supplying the company with parts for the Starliner aircraft, has issued a press release urging NASA to postpone the latest […]

On Thursday, the U.S. Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said it will conduct an audit of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) oversight of United Airlines maintenance procedures. In a statement, the watchdog agency cited “recent safety events” at United as reason for the audit, noting its objective is to assess the FAA’s measures […]

The U.S. Senate passed a five-year extension of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday evening, just one day ahead of its expiration date.   The $105 billion bipartisan bill dubbed “The Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act” was overwhelmingly approved in a vote of 88-4. Following its passage, the Senate also […]

It’s a little unusual for an aviation scholarship to go to a candidate who is not on a professional pilot career path. But with his commitment to contributing to the greater good of the aviation community, the latest recipient of Sporty’s $2,500 Pilot Training+ Scholarship could hardly be more worthy of the award. A native […]