Aviation News

The U.S. Air Force is being criticized for accelerating the timeline for retiring its fleet of 11 RC-26 surveillance aircraft. The aircraft, modified versions of the Swearingen Metroliner equipped with electronic surveillance equipment, cost about $30 million per year to operate and the Air Force maintains the mission—mostly domestic border patrol and drug trafficking intervention—can […]

In a holiday weekend performance that the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) deemed “unacceptable,” Southwest Airlines canceled 48 percent of its flights on Sunday (Christmas Day), 70 percent on Monday, and anticipated canceling 60 percent on Tuesday, the latter representing more than 2,400 flights. Casey Murray, the president of Southwest’s pilot union, was not buying […]

Today (Dec. 27), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) published comments it had supplied to the Ethiopian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (EAIB) regarding the March 10, 2019, crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a flight involving a Boeing 737-800 Max aircraft. The board said the EAIB “failed to include the NTSB’s comments in its final […]

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced that it will exercise an option for the production and delivery of 26 additional TH-73A training helicopters for the U.S. Navy. The award follows an initial $176 million contract from January 2020 for 32 TH-73As, a second $171 million award from November 2020 for 36 aircraft and a […]

ZeroAvia has been granted a permit by the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to fly a modified Dornier 228 outfitted with the company’s prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain. ZeroAvia noted that the permit was granted after an “extensive ground testing campaign and a rigorous review of the full development program.” Scheduled to fly for the first time […]

Pratt & Whitney’s PW4000-94 engine has reached its 35th year in operation with more than 150 million flight hours logged. Powering aircraft including the Boeing 747/767, MD-11, Airbus A300/310 and the KC-46A, the PW4000-94 was the first model in Pratt & Whitney’s high-thrust engine family for large aircraft. The 94-inch engine can offer between 52,000 […]

More than 160 people, fresh from a stay in Barbados, were evacuated to the cold snowy asphalt at JFK on Saturday after what may have been a laptop fire. The aircraft was at terminal 5 when the cabin began filling with smoke from the rear. Slides were activated and the passengers and crew headed for […]

The Regional Airline Association is accusing the Air Line Pilots Association of “gatekeeping” to limit the supply of pilots and ensure the continuation of fat contracts for its members. “It is long past time for industry and policymakers to call this harmful tactic exactly what it is: gatekeeping, which stands as an affront to all who […]

Authorities at a regional airport in Oklahoma say an Air Force C-17 that dropped in unannounced last weekend may have caused serious damage to its runway. Stillwater Regional Airport issued a statement saying the C-17, which was dropping off a women’s college basketball team for a game at nearby Oklahoma State University, was heavier than […]

A former mayor of Santa Monica, Rex Minter, 95, died after the Cessna 150A in which he was a passenger flipped during a forced landing on Santa Monica Beach just south of the pier on Thursday. The unidentified pilot is in a local hospital. The pilot requested a return to Santa Monica Airport just after […]